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Users of SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet service love their connections despite experiencing lower download speeds than fixed broadband in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in the U.S. This interesting relation comes courtesy of the latest survey from the maker of Speetest, Ookla. Ookla ran a Net Promoter Score (NPS) analysis of Starlink users and discovered a vast difference between the rating received by SpaceX's service and broadband internet providers.

The difference was the sharpest for metropolitan Starlink users, even though their median download speeds were significantly lower than the broadband users. At the same time, Ookla's overall analysis for internet speed data in America showed that median download speeds continued to drop annually but, in a breath of fresh air, increased quarter over quarter.

Starlink User Download Speeds Increase By 13 Mbps Between December 2022 and March 2023 Shows Data

Starting with the download speeds, the latest data from Ookla shows that median download speeds in the U.S. dropped by 24 Mbps annually in the first quarter. However, the speeds did increase by 13 Mbps in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. However, users in Mexico were much worse off, as their median download speeds dropped by a stunning 100 Mbps annually, with those in Canada experiencing the smallest drop of 3 Mbps.

These details, though, are not the most interesting ones of the survey. Ookla's NPS analysis of Starlink shows that even though median speeds for the satellite internet service are lower than broadband internet in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, Starlink users are far more likely to recommend the service to others.

The NPS rating measures the difference between the 'Promoters' and 'Detractors' of the service, and due to this, a positive score indicates a higher percentage of promoters. In contrast, a negative score indicates vice versa.

Ookla's NPS analysis of Starlink users. Image: Ookla

The results show that metropolitan and nonmetropolitan Starlink users had NPS scores of 31.94 and 42.21, respectively. This shows that a more significant proportion would recommend the service to others, and the scores become even more important when we look at the rather dismal performance of broadband users. Ookla reveals that broadband users in U.S. metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas had NPS scores of -23.62 and -21.27, showing that instead of recommending the service, they were more likely to ask others to refrain from getting a connection.

Despite an equally large difference in the median download speeds in the metro and nonmetro areas, these massive differences exist. Metro Starlink users had a median download speed of 65.29 Mbps, and nonmetro users clocked in at 72.18 Mbps. In percentage terms, metropolitan median speeds for Starlink users were 68% lower than broadband users, yet, their NPS scores were twice as high. In other words, despite having half the download speeds, Starlink users are twice as likely to recommend the service in metro areas.

Further analysis of the data shows that download speeds are not the sole influencer of user opinion. This is because in the nonmetro areas, broadband users had a median download speed of 100.41 Mbps, which is not significantly higher than Starlink's speed. However, despite 30% lower speeds, Starlink nonmetro users were three times as likely to recommend the service to users.

As to the future of Starlink, SpaceX's plans to launch next generation satellites appear to be constrained for now, as only a couple of such launches have taken so far. However, the firm is upgrading its user terminals and aims to have Starship operational soon to launch the upgrades satellites for service improvement.