- States are closing the gap on their digital divides, according to the latest Ookla Speedtest data
- But there are a few exceptions, including the state of Illinois
- At the same time, Illinois saw double-digit percentage gains in Starlink performance
Illinois isn’t doing so great closing its digital divide, and perhaps that’s why people in the state are picking up Starlink broadband at a faster pace than other states.
According to new research from Ookla, based on Ookla’s Speedtest data, rural broadband access expanded across the U.S. in the first half of 2026, with nearly every state narrowing the gap between broadband performance in cities compared to broadband performance in rural areas. When compared to the second half of 2025, every state — with the exceptions of California, Delaware and Illinois — made progress. New Hampshire and Virginia led the nation in gains, with New Hampshire reducing its digital divide gap from 11.5 to 4.8 percentage points.
The digital divide in California is likely due to the fact that the state has a lot of varied and difficult geographic terrain. While broadband is great in urban areas in California and in tech hubs like Silicon Valley, it lags in remote mountainous areas. As an aside, that’s why the California Public Utilities Commission is concerned about letting AT&T off the hook for providing carrier of last resort (COLR) telephone services in the state.
Delaware is a completely different situation. It’s a state approaching broadband saturation, where a very high percentage of citizens already receive minimum broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps across both urban (79.3%) and rural (78.4%) areas without much room for year-over-year improvements.
But Illinois doesn't have a high percentage of citizens with 100/20 Mbps service, nor does it have mountainous terrain. The state not only failed to improve its digital divide, it’s also one of the top five states with the largest digital divide, sharing that ignominy with Washington, New Mexico, Oregon and Missouri.
Illinois outpaces other states on Starlink uptake
Illinois is also notable for its double-digit percentage gains in Starlink performance. From the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026 the state increased its number of Starlink Speedtest users that were able to get the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps from 43.2% to 53.2%.
These percentage gains experienced by Illinois and other states were likely a result of SpaceX’s expansion of its Generation 2 (V2 Mini) satellites that offer up to 10 times the downlink and uplink capacity of their Generation 1 satellites.
During late 2025 and early 2026, SpaceX aggressively deployed its V2 Mini satellites. The company also upgraded many of its ground station gateways and rolled out a new generation of routers and dishes, all of which helped to boost its capacity and improve upload speeds.
In the past Starlink had struggled to meet the FCC’s minimum standard of broadband of 100/20 Mbps.
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