• By Sakshi Srivastava
  • Fri, 11 Jul 2025 02:34 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
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Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service, Starlink, faced widespread connectivity issues in the early hours of Friday across the United States. According to outage-tracking platform DownDetector, nearly 1,000 users had reported disruptions by 2:30 a.m. EDT. While most users complained of slow or no internet, some described the situation as a “complete blackout.”

The cause of the disruption remains unclear, and no official statement has been released by Starlink or its parent company, SpaceX.

What Is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite Internet service designed and built by SpaceX, to provide high-speed Internet service worldwide, especially in the remote and underserved areas. Starlink uses an increasingly bigger number of tiny satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), in contrast to the conventional satellite internet service where a small number of big-sized satellites are placed far away in the Earth.

This proximity enables Starlink to deliver quicker speed and reduced latency that is more appropriate to real time services, such as video conferencing and online gaming. This system also needs a user to set up a ground terminal commonly referred to as "Dishy" which automatically aligns itself to the nearest satellites.

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Praise And Concerns

Starlink has grown very fast and most of North America, Europe, and Australia can use it since its public beta launched in 2020. Rural users have been especially receptive to the service as it has brought them the long-awaited reliable internet connection.

But Starlink has not escaped the lengths of criticism either. Some of the users have cited its relatively high prices whereas the scientists and the astronomers have become concerned over the space congestion and as well as the light pollution from the satellites.

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However these challenges have not stopped the growth of Starlink. As it frequently launches satellites, SpaceX is striving to expand coverage and reliability - although the recent outage on Friday indicates that even the space-age internet can be disrupted.