Starlink gigabit satellite Internet plans set to launch in 2026 with much faster upload speeds

During a recent "Making Life Interplanetary" presentation, Elon Musk mentioned that SpaceX's upcoming Starship 3 rocket will be able to deploy the next generation of Starlink V3 satellites.

As big as a Boeing 737 with the solar panels unfurled, a V3 satellite will offer 10x the bandwidth of the current V2 constellation, or up to 1 Tbps.

This means that Starlink will be able to start offering gigabit satellite Internet speeds when the V3 satellite constellation starts forming next year.

Starlink gigabit Internet plans

Replying to a post detailing the specs of the currently available Starlink kits, Elon Musk basically confirmed that Starlink will offer gigabit Internet speeds in 2026.

He also hinted that Starlink's uplink speeds will be greatly improved as well, as can be expected given that the V3 satellites are capable of 24x the current upload speeds, or up to 160 Gbps.

The maiden Starship 3 rocket flight is expected to happen later this year with each of those Mars-capable rockets able to carry 100 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit. That will add 100 Tbps of downlink capacity in one fell swoop, so the gigabit speed constellation should start to form fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, affordable kits like the Starlink Mini dish that costs $349 on Amazon, or even the Standard Kit, won't be able to take advantage of the gigabit satellite Internet speeds.

For those, Starlink recently outed the Performance Kit which comes with a rugged dish that offers a 10-year lifespan and can withstand vibrations from a landing rocket. The pricey $2,000 Performance dish is the only one that Starlink currently cites as capable of gigabit download speeds.

"Starlink is focused on making network enhancements which will enable gigabit speeds starting in the most remote places on Earth with the Performance Kit," tips SpaceX. It also promises "service plan upgrades" for 2026, which likely means that those gigabit satellite Internet speeds won't come cheap even for the commercial customers that the Starlink Performance Kit targets.

Currently, the most expensive plan in Starlink's business line is the 2 TB Global Priority tier, which is $2,150 a month and works everywhere with Starlink coverage. This is pricey enough, but currently comes with up to 400 Mbps download speeds, so it remains to be seen if the Starlink gigabit Internet plans will be even more expensive.

Thankfully, there will at least be "no hardware changes needed" for the new Performance Kit buyers when gigabit speeds go live in 2026, informs Starlink.