@_MT_ - No, the problem has always been that most satellites are launched into GEO. Which rotates at same speed as the earth. And the distance of the satellite being further away meant you only needed a few of them. But you have to suffer with 1000ms+ latency. Which made the internet extremely slow regardless of how many MB/s you had and made gaming impossible. HTTP2 helped a bit since it allowed for less round trips but not all support it yet and its still slow.

Then there were a few MEO networks that went up, that are closer to the earth, needed more satellites but offered latency at 500ms+. Which still isn't all the great but a bit better.

LEO networks were rare because you needed way more satellites and they move at really really high speed around the earth(so they don't lose orbit). Every attempt prior to SpaceX at a LEO network has gone bankrupt due to high launch costs. SpaceX can make it work because they launch much cheaper than anyone before, and not only that they can launch at cost too and fill in the gaps as 2nd payload for virtually free. Of course development of cubesats helped a bit in this regard.

But to show you how hard it is to get a network going if you aren't a launch provider yourself and going with non-SpaceX for launching. Just look no further than the recent bankrupt OneWeb.

As I understand it, the big problem with developing high speed satellite Internet connection was getting the relevant frequency ranges assigned to them as they compete with other technologies. 50+ Mb/s satellite Internet has been on the market for a while. Radio frequencies are a finite resource. And while satellites make great sense in sparsely populated areas (they can cover huge swatches of Earth), they have a hard time competing in densely populated areas. Terrestrial wireless and wired network have a technological edge there and always will.

The big question is how many customers can they support at those speeds.

Personally, the funniest thing I find about high speed Internet connectivity is that practically nobody talks about inter-network connectivity. It's really funny when someone provides 1 Gb/s fibre optic and only has 2x10 Gb/s connectivity abroad. Not that I'm implying this will be the case. It's just funny.

Lovely, to see increase downloading speed. It will enhance human capabilities with minimum input.Congrats, SpaceX. When will it reach South Asia specially Pakistan

Forget the mbps, its the latency that counts! With latency numbers as low as 20ms that puts it competitive with broadband for smooth browsing experience and you can game too. Biggest issue with satellite internet wasn't even the speed, but the 1000ms latency!

@opelit Tesla still makes the best mass production electric cars. That is why they are #1 selling EV manufacturer. They even outsell the gas cars in their class in US.

I'm ready... the minute there are enough sats to cover north florida they have my money.   Better internet than I can get now and my $$$ helps fund mars.

Expect everything Musk is doing to get exponentially faster...  he wants a mars colony in his lifetime...  that pace is the only way to make it happen so thats the pace hes set.

AFAIK, Teslas are still the most advanced EVs on the market (Range, power, charging, software, OTA updates, infotainment, self-driving ...)

Some said its crazy, some that its impossible. But the man again prove that when you want you can do it. His electric cars ware like - it will be useless, range will be low etc. Now there are a lot of electric cars and the best are not even Tesla.
If Starlink will be successful, I do think that in the future we will have more and more technology like that. And its awesome.