You may or may not agree with what Elon Musk and SpaceX have been doing over the last few years, but there is no getting away from the impact Starlink has had in remote and rural areas in improving broadband speeds and therefore making businesses more efficient and robust online.
How Starlink works: A quick overview
Starlink is made up of around 7,500 satellites in Low Earth Orbit, equipped with krypton-fueled thrusters for propulsion, and inter-satellite links enabling them to transmit data between satellites instead of through ground stations and thus reducing the latency. The low latency makes it capable of easily supporting online activities like streaming, online gaming and more importantly, video calls such as Teams and Google Meet.
The number of satellites and coverage will keep increasing, and astronomers have raised concerns about congestion in the Low Earth Orbit. SpaceX have tried to mitigate this by reducing the satellite's brightness while in operation, and the thrusters allow satellites to de-orbit at the end of their lifespan so as not to add to space junk.
As more and more business processes go online through Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc., having a reliable, fast connection is becoming more and more important. Using traditional broadband infrastructure for some people just isn’t practical, even with a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) connection.
Real-world example: Transforming a Yorkshire farm
We have helped a number of our customers take advantage of the improved connection speeds with Starlink, which has enabled them to revolutionise their business.
A really good example is of a farm between Richmond and Leyburn, which is around 1.5 miles from the road, and more than double that from a fibre connection. They were having to use a 4G router with very little signal and were getting around 1.5MB download speeds, so effectively as much as the old dial-up system!
We installed a Starlink system for the farm office, and they now get between 70MB - 200MB download speeds (which is more than some people in towns and villages!)
This means that the business side of the farm is now much more efficient, and the use of Microsoft 365 means their data is safe in the cloud, easy to access, and they can take advantage of all the online tools that come with it.
Of course, location plays a big part in this, and an uninterrupted view of the sky is best. Starlink is available in 99 countries and is continually expanding to more locations and releasing more satellites to increase coverage and reduce latency further.
There are a number of options with Starlink, there are “static” connections for home and business where the dish is fixed to a wall / roof, but there are roaming capabilities as well with options for boats, campervans etc. and even a specialised service giving in-flight wifi connectivity on approved aircraft.
If you are struggling with low broadband speeds because of a remote location, we could potentially help you. Monthly costs start at around £75 per month (as of July 2025), and installation costs are available on request.