Speed and latency: what the numbers mean day to day
Fibre offers consistently low latency, well suited to video calls and real-time applications. Satellite connections, including Starlink, carry inherently higher latency than fibre due to the physics of the signal path, noticeable on latency-sensitive tasks even when raw download speed looks comparable.
Reliability in Kenyan weather and conditions
Fibre's main vulnerability is physical, cable cuts from construction or road work. Starlink's main vulnerability is environmental, signal obstruction and rain fade. Neither is immune to disruption; they fail differently.
Installation time: days vs weeks
Starlink's self-install kit can typically be up and running within a day of arrival, once you have line of sight. Fibre installation depends on whether infrastructure already reaches your building, if it does, it can be quick; if new fibre has to be run, it takes considerably longer.
When Starlink is clearly the right call
- Your location has no fibre and no reliable terrestrial wireless option
- You need connectivity fast, before fibre infrastructure could realistically reach you
- You are covering a remote or temporary site
When fibre still wins, even if it takes longer to install
- Fibre is already reachable at your address
- You need the lowest possible latency for real-time applications
- You are planning for a fixed, long-term site where the upfront installation wait is a one-time cost against years of lower running cost