Ukrainian engineer begins testing SpaceX’s Starlink internet system

On Monday night, amid the sirens blaring outside his house, Ukrainian engineer Oleg Kutkov hung the Starlink satellite dish outside his window and pointed it at the sky. To his surprise, Oleg received a signal in just 10 seconds from one of SpaceX’s satellites in the air. Finally, Oleg was able to connect to the broadband internet, after many days of internet interruptions.

Speaking to The Verge, Oleg Kutkov said: “I really don’t believe it will work. I think there might be some problem, like buildings are obstructions or the line speed is limited. But no, it connects almost instantly, the speed is really good and stable.”

A few months ago, this engineer guy bought a Starlink system on eBay, which is currently selling for between $2,000 and $3,000, to research. The seller gave his Starlink account in the US to Oleg, but he couldn’t access it because the Starlink service is still not supported in Ukraine.

But everything has changed in the past week. Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mr. Mykhailo Fedorov has asked CEO Elon Musk to provide his Starlink service to Ukraine, to overcome the situation of internet connection being interrupted in this country.

Starlink is a satellite internet system from space developed by SpaceX, with the launch of tens of thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit to transmit broadband internet connection to the ground. To be able to connect to the internet, users need a SpaceX Starlink terminal or pan. SpaceX’s satellites also connect the signal to the ground-based internet fiber optic facility.

After CEO Elon Musk responded and said that the Starlink service was able to work in Ukraine, engineer Oleg Kutkov tried to access his Starlink account again. But the first time was unsuccessful. Later, Oleg said SpaceX support contacted him and said he should try connecting again now. As a result, the second attempt was successful.

Oleg posted on his Twitter page about the results of Starlink’s connection speed test, it was surprising that the download speed could reach 200 Mb / s. SpaceX currently has more than 2,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, including several operating over Ukraine and neighboring countries.

Oleg Kutkov said that he wants all Ukrainians to know that the Starlink internet service and system can actually work in the country, the connection speed is also very good and the stability is high. Therefore, Ukrainians can completely use Starlink if the fiber optic internet connection is interrupted or has problems.

Reference: theverge