Starlink has put high-speed internet on ships, aircraft, remote villages and disaster zones. It works very differently from older satellite internet, and that difference comes down to orbit height, thousands of satellites and some clever antenna engineering.
Low orbit changes everything
Traditional internet satellites sit in geostationary orbit about 36,000 km above the equator. A signal travelling there and back takes so long that video calls feel laggy. Starlink satellites orbit much lower, at roughly 550 km. The shorter distance cuts delay dramatically, giving latency closer to ground broadband.
The catch is that a low satellite moves quickly across the sky and is overhead for only a few minutes. To provide constant coverage, you need a very large constellation, which is why SpaceX has launched thousands of satellites.
The dish that tracks without moving
A Starlink user terminal looks like a flat panel, but inside it is a phased-array antenna made of hundreds of small antenna elements. By adjusting the timing of the signal at each element, the terminal steers its beam electronically, following satellites across the sky and switching between them without any motor. It is the same principle used in modern military radars.
Lasers in space
Newer Starlink satellites carry laser links that pass data between satellites. A signal can hop across space to a satellite above a ground station on another continent. This matters over oceans and polar regions where there are no ground stations nearby.
The journey of your data
- Your dish beams data up to the nearest satellite overhead.
- The satellite sends it down to a ground station or across laser links to another satellite.
- The ground station connects to the regular internet.
- The reply returns along the same path in reverse, all within a few tens of milliseconds.
Limits worth knowing
- Clear sky view. Trees and buildings block the signal, so placement matters.
- Heavy rain can reduce speeds briefly.
- Shared capacity. Speeds drop in areas with many users on the same satellites.
- Astronomy concerns. Bright satellite trails interfere with telescope images, and operators are working on darker coatings.
- Regulation. Each country licenses satellite internet separately, including spectrum and security approvals.
Frequently asked questions
Can Starlink connect directly to my phone?
Direct-to-phone satellite services are being rolled out for messaging and basic data in partnership with mobile operators in some countries. Full broadband still needs a dish.
Are there competitors?
Yes. Eutelsat OneWeb, Amazon's Project Kuiper and Chinese constellations are building low-orbit networks too.