Starlink is built to deliver reliable high-speed internet, even when a customer’s view of the sky isn’t perfect. Trees, buildings, and other obstacles can temporarily block the connection to a given satellite, but the system is designed in such a way that these are generally imperceptible to the user. A given user terminal in the United States for example has 10s of satellites in view, providing diversity to route traffic via a satellite with a stable and unobstructed connection. Starlink terminals automatically switch between satellites in real time to address any degradation in the link – this happens both proactively, for fixed installs, and reactively, for mobile terminals and unpredicted issues.

As a Starlink terminal communicates with satellites overhead, it continuously builds a real-time obstruction map, allowing Starlink to dynamically understand its environment. With this information, it can proactively select the best and most stable connection. These proactive satellite switches are imperceptible to the user and occur many times per minute – with Starlink’s low-Earth-orbiting satellites rapidly transiting the sky, it’s a natural part of the system. For dynamic obstructions, such as those that are encountered by mobile terminals, the system reactively switches in a timescale of 10s to 100s of milliseconds (ms), allowing a connection to remain stable. The dynamic nature of Starlink combined with the many paths for the system to route traffic provide a high degree of resiliency in obstructed and changing environments.

Additionally, to help customers get the most out of their service, the Starlink app includes a built-in tool to preview the install location and guide customers to the best placement with the fewest obstructions. After setup, the Starlink app provides a live obstruction map that shows exactly where signal blockages are occurring and how they may affect the experience, so that customers can make informed decisions about optimizing their installation. Starlink also measures uptime at a 10 Hz rate from every terminal, transparently reporting any outage at the 100 ms level and above in the app. For well-installed, even partially obstructed terminals, this uptime is typically at the 99.9% level.

As we continue to improve our software systems and launch more satellites, Starlink becomes even more robust. With a denser satellite network, and increasingly advanced algorithms, our system has more paths to route around obstacles, making service more resilient, even in challenging environments.

Learn about Starlink beam switching here.