Starlink, the satellite internet service offered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, suffered a widespread network outage on Thursday. This disruption comes just days after T-Mobile unveiled its own, new, satellite service—which is being powered by Starlink. Users and industry observers alike are starting to sound the alarm. More than 60,000 outage reports flooded in on Downdetector, a website that monitors service disruptions.
As the pictures came pouring in, Musk himself quickly went to work on his new social media platform X. He took responsibility for the failures and provided a personal apology, vowing, “Service will be restored any day.” This statement aimed to reassure users that the outage was temporary and that efforts were underway to resolve the issue quickly.
The most publicized aspect of Starlink’s rapid growth has been its service for direct-to-cell-phone capability. Musk showcased this expansion, calling the direct-to-cell-phone service “growing fast.” The outage came just days after T-Mobile made its satellite service publicly available. This timing raised concerns about what it would mean for changes to user experience, quality, and user satisfaction.
Thursday’s service disruption immediately raised alarms about Starlink’s long-term reliability. This was significant especially given their recent promotional blitz on their new T-Mobile partnership. Users consistently complained about their ability to connect to the internet. This increase in complaints and public discontent with connectivity coincides directly with Starlink’s move to pursue expanding its customer base.
Beyond the problems brought on by this outage, Starlink’s merger with Eutelsat faced even more scrutiny. Those prior deals in Europe had left Starlink looking like a strong new contender in the global satellite communications market. The reliability of Critical Infrastructure Providers has often come under fire during outages, causing great concern from customers. Now, they’re justifiably looking under the hood at how they continue forward.
While Starlink continues its efforts to restore its services, users everywhere continue to hope that the company manages to solve these problems soon. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, there are still sky-high expectations for more dynamic, exciting improvements through the satellite internet program.