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Elon Musk’s Starlink network is experiencing an outage, leaving thousands without internet connection.

The company posted on social media: “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience, we’ll share an update once this issue is resolved.”

Thousands of reports flooded the Down Detector website on Tuesday before 9pm, with 65 per cent citing a “total blackout”. The company’s website appears to be down with a “no healthy upstream” error message showing to viewers.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Musk. The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

People on social media have complained about what appears to be a global outage, with citizens from Colorado, Germany and Zimbabwe reporting access issues.

A customer on X said that they were lucky to have 5G on their phone, observing: “the only downfall to Starlink is when it goes down, your only alternative is your phone network”.

Recap: What is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Elon Musk.

The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

As of May 2025, the constellation consists of over 7,600 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit.

Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned, with a possible later extension to 34,400.

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 23:00

Outage could be Starlink’s longest ever

Ticking over two hours, some commentators are already saying this is Starlink’s longest ever disruption.

Director of Internet Analysis Doug Madory at Kentik said: “The Starlink outage is now in excess of two hours in duration, making this incident Starlink’s longest outage since becoming a major service provider.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:52

Pictured: Leuk, Switzerland, where SpaceX aims to build Starlink satellite dishes(Getty Images)

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:41

Customers complain about time to get Starlink up and running

As Elon Musk has confirmed that Starlink’s network outage shall end shortly, many disgruntled customers have taken to X to respond to his post.

One person commented: “Just adjust the next bill to have a discount based the time of the outage…”

Another complained: “I pay $120/mo. That’s $4/day. I expect a $4 credit on my next bill. I should not have to pay for service I did not receive.”

The outage has entered its second hour.

“Define ‘shortly,’ your track record with timetables sucks,” a third person complained.

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:33

Everything we know so far about the Starlink network outage

  • Thousands across the world started reporting an outage around 8.30pm UK time on Thursday.
  • Outages have been reported in the US, Germany, Zimbabwe, Romania and even in the UK.
  • Elon Musk has said service will be restored shortly and SpaceX will remedy the root cause to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:30

Related: The sun is causing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to drop from space

Eruptions from the sun are causing SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to fall to Earth “faster than expected”, according to Nasa scientists.

A team from the US space agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center made the discovery after investigating the impact of solar activity on the lifespan of satellites in low-Earth orbit.

Their findings revealed that Elon Musk’s space internet constellation is particularly prone to the effects of geomagnetic storms, which heat up the planet’s atmosphere and increase the drag on satellites.

Deputy technology editor Anthony Cuthbertson reports:

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:23

Starlink outage happens day after rollout with T-Mobile

Starlink’s network outage has happened just one day after the company unveiled its satellite service from T-Mobile called T-Satellite.

The company rolled out its collaboration with the mobile network on Wednesday and early on Musk said its direct-to-cell-phone service was “growing fast”.

T-Mobile has said the T-Satellite service was built to keep phones connected “in places no carrier towers can reach.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:18

Recap: Earlier this year, Musk claimed X was subject to a cyber attack

This isn’t the only major infrastructural system linked to Elon Musk which has experienced an outage.

Earlier this year, Musk claimed that his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was targeted in a “massive cyber-attack” which resulted in service outages.

“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” the platform’s CEO posted. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:13

Watch: The moment SpaceX launched its Starlink internet satellitesSpaceX launches Starlink internet satellites

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:09

Everything we don’t know about the Starlink network outage

Here are the questions we still have as Starlink experiences a network outage:

  • How many countries have been affected?
  • What has caused the outage?
  • Has it impacted Ukraine’s armed forces?

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:06