If you pay for Starlink’s 100 Mbps plan, Friday’s rocket launch didn’t raise that limit. It did put more hardware in orbit that could help Starlink handle rising demand. SpaceX confirmed that Starship Flight 15 deployed 26 more V3 satellites. In a separate move this week, the FCC approved 36 SpaceX ground-station applications for V3 operations. Neither announcement sets a date for faster service at a Michigan address.
What the satellites and ground stations do
Your dish talks to satellites overhead. A gateway is a ground station that links the satellite network to the internet. Adding capacity on both ends can help the network carry more traffic. SpaceX says each V3 satellite is designed to add about one terabit per second of capacity to the network. That capacity is shared across many connections. Where congestion is the problem, added capacity can help the network keep up during busy hours.
SpaceX’s Flight 15 briefing said the satellites would raise their orbits and go through checks before serving customers, potentially within weeks of launch. The FCC order covers the frequencies those ground stations can use. Some had already received temporary authority, so the 36 approvals don’t tell us how many stations switched on this week.
What to expect at your address
Starlink’s U.S. plan page still lists Residential 100, Residential 200, and Residential Max. The first two have download caps of 100 and 200 Mbps where they’re available. Max gets the highest priority among residential plans, and actual speeds can vary. For comparison, the Michigan Speedtest results we covered Thursday showed a median of 117.2 Mbps down in the first half of 2026 across tested connections. Your plan and your own results are better guides to what you’re getting at home.
If the TV buffers every evening, compare the Starlink app’s router-to-internet result with its device-to-router result around the time you normally watch. If the link from your device to the router is the slow one, check the Wi-Fi in that room before paying for a faster plan. If you’re shopping for service, enter your address on Starlink’s order page and compare the plans you can actually select. Starlink’s speed-test guide shows where to find both measurements.
Launch, FCC and plan details checked November 15, 2026.
