Starlink's performance in rural areas of Finland's north decreases when close to the Russian border or in a forest, researchers at the University of Oulu said following a field study in September.
Starlink is a satellite internet service provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX private space company. It was previously unavailable in Finland when the product launched a few years ago, but new satellites expanded the coverage area in November 2022.
The University of Oulu's 6G research group tested the performance of Starlink's internet connection in the area between Oulu on Finland's northwestern coast and Suomussalmi which sits on the Russian border.
According to the researchers, Starlink performed well in most locations, but in more heavily forested areas connection speeds dropped.
According to researcher Harri Saarnisaari, the speed provided by the satellites was at best over 200 megabits per second. Forest coverage weakened the connection, even though the tests were not carried out in areas with the densest forest coverage.
At its slowest, the satellite connection was around 65 megabits per second. Uplink speeds, or the data traffic from the phone to the satellite, varied between about 15 and 40 megabits per second, depending on the location. Saarnisaari considers these speeds to be sufficient for many purposes.
"They are certainly sufficient for cottage conditions. At those speeds, you can handle business and entertainment in remote areas," Saarnisaari said.
When the satellites were available, researchers said it took a reasonable amount of time to establish a connection between a satellite and the ground terminal, between 10 and 15 minutes.
Russian border reduces connection
Connection also dropped near the Russian border, where at some points, the connection cut off completely. However, this was not a surprise, as Starlink geofences Russia and some of this digital blockade extends over into Finland.
"We tried a couple of places 10-20 kilometres from the border and could not establish contact with the satellite. For example, we could not reach Starlink from Raatteentie," Saarnisaari told Yle.
Starlink has become an important tool for Ukraine during its ongoing war with Russia. In September, the New York Times revealed that Musk and SpaceX had restricted some of Ukraine's offensive capabilities.
Correction 7 October: a typo had previously written 65 megabytes and 15-40 megabytes, but the actual figures were megabits.
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