Starlink Stumbles: Global Internet Blackout Sparks Outrage and Apology
Despite being named after a celestial body, Starlink failed to live up to its “stellar” promise, suffering a major outage that disrupted high-speed satellite internet access for users worldwide. Caused by an internal software malfunction, the blackout lasted approximately two and a half hours and left thousands of users without internet connectivity.
In Bangladesh, Abdul Momen, a Starlink user, took to social media at 1:31 AM local time on July 25 to report the disruption. “Starlink internet went down suddenly 8–10 minutes ago,” he wrote, adding, “Now I can see on their website that it’s a global issue.”
In the comment section, user Mitha Hawlader quipped,
“Seems like it can’t land from the sky...
Those who used to browse by ‘stargazing’ after 1:00 AM can’t even Google now.
When local networks falter, we call it a disaster. But when expensive services delay, we praise them?
800 taka for 24/7 support—yet we curse.
6,000 taka with no response—yet we love?
So I say, judge by service, not by brand.
Being local doesn’t mean being weak—it means being accountable.”
Adding a satirical twist, another user Rafsan Amin commented, “Jamaat-Shibir activists shook the Starlink pillar—so the service collapsed.”
Downdetector, a platform that tracks internet service disruptions, reported that around 3:00 PM local time (1:00 AM Bangladesh time), users from the US and Europe began experiencing connectivity issues. Nearly 61,000 users reported the outage to Starlink, with complaints flooding in from Colorado to Germany to Zimbabwe.
Users across continents expressed frustration over the global outage. One user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “Having 5G on my phone saved me. The only real drawback of Starlink is that when it goes down, your phone network is your only fallback.”
Faced with widespread criticism, Starlink CEO Elon Musk issued a public apology. In a post from the official X account of the company at 8:15 PM local time Thursday, Musk stated, “The network issue has been resolved, and Starlink service is restored. We understand the importance of connectivity and apologize for the outage.” Musk also reposted the statement and assured users the disruption was temporary, adding, “SpaceX will ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Downdetector noted that by 4:00 PM on July 24, thousands of complaints had been submitted, with 65% of users reporting “total signal loss.”
Starlink, operated by SpaceX—the aerospace company founded by Musk—is a satellite-based internet service provider aiming to deliver mobile broadband across nearly 130 countries and territories.
Acknowledging the unprecedented scale of the disruption, Starlink’s Vice President of Engineering, Michael Nicolls, wrote on X that the issue was caused by the failure of a critical internal software service. Connectivity was restored after about two and a half hours. “We apologize to our users,” Nicolls said, promising a full investigation into the root cause.
Analysts have described the outage as an “unprecedented” setback for Starlink. While currently attributed to a software malfunction, some experts speculate that a failed update—or even a possible cyberattack—may have contributed to the disruption.
