More than 900 complaints that mention SpaceX or its Starlink internet service have been filed with the Federal Communications Commission over the past five years, according to files obtained through a public records request.
The complaints provide a view into how the technology has already evolved into a critical lifeline for some rural U.S. residents. They also provide insight into some of the leading issues that frustrate Starlink customers, including variant—and sometimes disappointing—internet speeds, as well as poor customer service.
The documents obtained by Fast Company come from the FCC, the federal agency that regulates telecommunications providers. Customers can file complaints with the FCC after experiencing issues with internet services, and these complaints will sometimes form the basis for a deeper agency investigation. Some customers will also encourage others to reach out to the FCC to attract the attention of regulators about particular issues they’re facing.
The complaints come as U.S. states prepare to hand SpaceX hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to expand Starlink service in their most internet-deprived regions. In these areas, Starlink aims to provide access to the web by connecting people, via a home terminal, to the internet provided by its satellite constellation—and avoid the long and difficult work of installing fiber. SpaceX is now readying for a historic IPO and several upgrades to Starlink, including new satellites, a next-generation gateway station, and expanded direct-to-cell coverage.
But the unearthed docs suggest the Elon Musk-owned company has, in some cases, exasperated Starlink users with what they call abysmal customer service. SpaceX’s customer support page lists several ways to get in touch with the company, including phone numbers, a message form, and—for those who use Starlink’s app—a way to file a ticket or seek help from Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI (another Musk company that SpaceX now owns).
But many customers allege they receive unhelpful automated responses and must wait an extremely long time for assistance, while others say they’re unable to reach SpaceX employees by phone. Some complain the company has “extremely poor performance and speeds” or is “not giving the service they promised.”
About 36% of the complaints mention the word support, and about 28% use the term ticket. Some refer to billing or pricing changes, while others focus on issues with Starlink installation. (A number of the complaints also cite conspiracy theories about the impact of cellular service on human health.)
A good number of the complaints center on waitlists and slow delivery times for hardware. Several express frustration that the company sent terminals to Ukraine—SpaceX, indeed, provided hundreds of terminals to Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022—before they, themselves, received hardware. “They claimed that inflation and chip shortages were the reason for delays in shipping dishes but yet they were shipping thousands to Ukraine,” one such complaint reads.
“Starlink provides a remarkable internet access service, but has very poor customer service. If you are capable of setting it up yourself and troubleshooting it, it works well,” Christopher Mitchell, who leads the community broadband networks initiative at the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance, tells Fast Company. “But if you need assistance, then you may be out of luck. “
SpaceX and the FCC did not respond to a request for comment. The names of the complainants were redacted by the FCC office that handles Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests and cannot be individually verified by Fast Company.
Some complaints take a different tack, petitioning the FCC to oppose the spread of Starlink because of their opposition to its CEO, Musk. Others reach out to criticize the paltry state of their existing broadband offerings, then urge the agency to make it easier to buy Starlink (“Starlink rocks,” wrote one person).
These complaints come amid broader tensions over the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, a federal initiative that’s meant to subsidize internet providers who expand service in unserved and underserved U.S. states and territories.
After a yearslong back-and-forth, SpaceX and other satellite providers finally received this funding, though the company and the states that will dole out the money are still determining how this will actually work.
A significant chunk of complaints allege that SpaceX doesn’t provide the internet speeds it advertises. Notably, the company published expected speeds on its website, but also asserts that “Stated speeds . . . and the uninterrupted use of the Services is not guaranteed.”
Like other internet providers, Starlink has also experienced outages that have disrupted the internet connections of some customers, enterprises, and even the Defense Department. Some customers, particularly in rural areas, told the FCC that they’ve come to rely on Starlink and that issues with customer service and speed have disrupted their lives.
“Starlink is already overwhelmed servicing its existing customer base, and yet we’re about to add a whole bunch more customers,” says Sascha Meinrath, a Penn State professor who has authored research that raises concerns about Starlink’s network capacity. “The question that I’d have for the regulators and grant program officers is, Do you add thousands or millions more customers, setting ourselves up for failure of the program?”
Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance says the complaints speak to the frustration that people who live in rural or underserved areas face in finding internet service providers that actually deliver the service they advertise.
“We have many providers that make plenty of money from comparatively easy-to-serve customers and do not have much desire to offer a service that could truly be used universally,” he says. “Funny enough, that is even true for new low Earth orbit satellite, where the service can reach almost anywhere on Earth, but customer support is not nearly so readily available.”
One operator, who spoke in 2023 with a Starlink customer in Mendocino County, California, noted in one of the complaint documents that the customer had been without internet for more than two days, and had been struggling to get in touch with Starlink. “Their app is not compatible with his phone,” notes from the call say.
Another complaint, filed by a person living in Warren County, New York, alleged that they had not received the speeds advertised on the company’s services map, and that issues with Starlink speeds were interrupting their ability to work from home. “We have a special needs child that does most schooling from home and as a result we work from home a lot to care for her,” the person wrote. “While we currently have Starlink, the speed rarely meet[s] those advertised and, on a cloudy day, which is a lot, the speeds plummet,” rendering the service unusable.
In November, a Vermont resident reported being without internet for five days after their router failed. Although they purchased a replacement, they were unable to activate it because the process required two-factor authentication, which they could not complete without an internet connection. After repeated calls to Starlink yielded only automated assurances of a callback, the family drove to a nearby town with phone service to submit multiple support tickets, but still failed to reach a human representative.
The lack of internet caused issues for the person and their partner, both of whom need to work at home. The partner, who works in medicine, had to drive to a local corner store with Wi-Fi to reach patients. The couple was also vulnerable, the complaint added, because without service, they were unable to remain reachable by their father, who has Parkinson’s. They added, “This is an emergency!!!”