Starlink Increasingly a Direct Competitor to WISPs, Ookla Says
Low earth orbit satellite is increasingly a head-to-head competitor for wireless ISPs in rural markets, with SpaceX's Starlink sometimes reaching download speeds faster than WISPs, Ookla said Monday. In Q1 2025, Starlink had median download speeds of 104.71 Mbps, putting…
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it on par with or better than several larger WISPs, Ookla said. Its review of WISPs found that they all improved their median download speeds between Q1 2021 and Q2 2025, though to varying degrees. Starry delivered the highest median download speeds of the WISPs studied, at 202.25 Mbps in Q2 2025. Other WISPs had Q2 median download speeds of up to about 100 Mbps. To keep competing in broadband, WISPs must find ways to secure more spectrum to avoid network congestion and interference, Ookla added.