Starlink internet users experienced an outage on Tuesday that spanned across different parts of the world, from the U.S. to New Zealand, Mexico and the Netherlands.
The global outage lasted for a few hours for most users, but connectivity returned with a “Degraded Service” message that meant it wasn’t fully operational. Some users on Reddit also reported that their connection kept going from degraded to offline. “Our team is investigating and will resolve as soon as possible,” the Starlink service message read. However, the company hasn’t released a public message acknowledging the outage.
Starlink is currently beaming down connectivity to parts of the U.S. and Canada, as well as New Zealand, some parts of Australia, the United Kingdom, and some European countries like Spain and France. But the company has big plans to expand to the rest of the world by the end of the year.
The connection issues come shortly after SpaceX announced that T-Mobile phones will connect with Starlink service to bring satellite internet to its devices in an effort to end “mobile dead zones.” SpaceX is hoping to deliver internet connectivity to even the most remote parts of the world. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also authorised SpaceX to provide Starlink wifi to vehicles in motion, including semi-trucks and RVs, planes, and boats.
The company is currently building out its satellite megaconstellation in low Earth orbit, delivering internet satellites onboard its Falcon 9 rocket at a frantic pace. SpaceX has sent up more than 3,000 satellites, with 2,895 currently in orbit. That’s already a lot of satellites, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to send a whole lot more, with an ambitious plan to build out a 42,000 internet satellite constellation.
Other companies want to get in on the internet satellite action, but SpaceX is way ahead of its competition due to the fact that it is both a rocket company and a satellite company. OneWeb, a SpaceX competitor in this realm, has even turned to SpaceX to help it launch its satellites to orbit to form a much smaller internet constellation consisting of 648 satellites. Amazon is also planning to launch a fleet of 3,236 satellites for Project Kuiper. The company recently booked 83 trips to launch its satellites on board rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance, while leaving SpaceX out.