Yesterday Drive Tesla reported on the first sighting of a Starlink dish installed at a Supercharger in Canada.
The free WiFi service was already active, and Tesla cars at the Surrey Supercharger connected automatically to the network.
After we published our story, we received many questions on what kind of speeds the satellite internet service provided, and if other devices could connect to the network.
Thanks to one of our readers, we now have answers to both of those questions.
Tommy (@Tommyf902) visited the Surrey Supercharger this morning and performed a series of speed tests, and the results weren’t great.
The best result for download speed was through Google at 29.9Mbps. The best upload speed was through Speedtest.net at 4.82Mbps.
Speedtest.net
Test 1
Ping 38ms
21.28Mbps download
4.82 Mbps upload
Test 2
Ping 58ms
8.98Mbps download
3.77Mbps upload
Test 1
Ping 38ms
29.9Mbps download
2.31Mbps upload
Test 2
Ping 64ms
1.28Mbps download
0.21Mbps upload
According to Tommy, there were 11 other Tesla cars plugged in at the same time as him. Since the cars connect automatically to the network, all 11 could have been streaming music or video, resulting in increased network traffic, impacting the results.
Despite this, Tommy says he was still able to stream Netflix and browse the internet, and noticed no difference in quality and performance compared to the LTE connection.
As for the other question, Tommy tells us that only his car was able to connect to the network. He could not connect to it using his mobile phone.
If you spot a Starlink dish at your local Supercharger, let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us at tips@driveteslacanada.ca.
