How To Set Up Starlink Dish
If you live in rural America, y'all know firsthand that millions of people don't have cablevision or fiber internet options, let alone access to the gigabit offerings bachelor in some parts of the country. Equally a result, many people are stuck with a connection betwixt 25 and 40Mbps through DSL or a similar service.
Fifty-fifty President Joe Biden has remarked(Opens in a new window) on the fact that 35% of Americans in rural areas don't have access to loftier-speed internet. And according to the US Census(Opens in a new window), more than a quarter-million Americans still employ a dial-up connection. Even worse, 13 meg people don't have cyberspace access at all.
Although 25Mbps is fine for one or two people to check email and social media, it'southward not sufficient for online gaming or 4K video streaming. And what if more two people in your household want to get online? Well, information technology'southward non that different from the old days when you had to yell at your siblings to become off the telephone to employ your punch-up modem.
When I moved recently from a well-connected Utah city to a far more rural area in Idaho, I faced this exact problem. Simply there was another wrinkle: My chore—remotely working for one of the leading tech review sites in the globe—places higher demands on my home connectivity than merely checking electronic mail or streaming the occasional YouTube video. For instance, the process of testing laptops often involves downloading every bit much as 70GB of data in a day! Obviously, the 40Mbps speeds (at all-time) that local DSL providers in southeast Idaho quoted me wasn't going to cut it.
Thankfully, at that place's a new alternative on the market place: Starlink, the satellite-based internet service from Elon Musk'southward SpaceX. With promises of 150Mbps speeds and dead-unproblematic installation, it has been an essential part of taking my tech-heavy lifestyle out of the metropolis and into the country.
How Can You Go Starlink?
Getting Starlink for your home isn't hard. It'due south but a matter of visiting Starlink.com(Opens in a new window) and confirming that your location is covered by Starlink's service area—as easy as plugging your accost into the SpaceX coverage map—and and then signing up for the service.
The initial signup takes moments; yous only need to provide your physical address and credit card information. Equally part of signing up you'll detect out whether yous can expect your Starlink kit within the usual 2-week window of time, or if you lot'll be placed on a waitlist for an unspecified amount of time.
When I signed up, I fully expected to be waitlisted, since I had seen other Idaho users online talking almost waiting weeks or months for their Starlink kit. I never experienced those delays, though, and received my kit a short two weeks afterwards signing upwardly.
And getting the kit is the hardest part of the whole process. Monthly billing is straightforward and handled online; it'south an automated payment, so you lot tin ready it and forget it after the initial sign up. And whenever you're ready to finish service, y'all can handle that through the same spider web portal, with no early termination fees or counterfoil penalties.
How Much Does Starlink Toll?
When yous sign upward for Starlink, you don't sign an equipment rental agreement the style you would with, say, a cablevision company. Instead, you buy the Starlink hardware upfront. Information technology's relatively expensive ($599, plus a $50 treatment fee), simply there is no recurring equipment expense. Service then costs $110 per month for equally long equally yous want the service. There is no long-term contract and you can stop and showtime as you need.
What Comes In the Starlink Kit?
The Starlink kit(Opens in a new window) comes with everything yous need to get going: one Starlink dish, a dish mountain, and a Wi-Fi router base of operations unit of measurement. Information technology also includes a power cable for the base unit and a 75-foot cablevision for connecting the router to the dish.
Additional accessories are available through Starlink(Opens in a new window), including longer cables, additional mounting hardware, and adapters for connecting other equipment over standard Ethernet.
(Photograph: Brian Westover)
The box includes a fairly elementary instruction sail with illustrations and no text (except the URL to Starlink support). Just this page doesn't evidence you some of the fine details. For instance, the dish mast clicks into place in the mounting tripod, just yous must offset thread the cablevision through the tripod and plug information technology into the dish mast. The cablevision has ii ends, both with the same connector type, just with differently shaped plugs. This makes it adequately elementary to keep direct which end goes into the dish and which terminate goes into the base unit. All the plugs have moisture-resistant seals and should withstand choppy atmospheric condition.
The setup procedure is pretty quick (it doesn't take long to get a live connection after y'all open up the box), but fine-tuning the dish position for optimal functioning may take longer.
Unboxing the Starlink Kit
(Photograph: Brian Westover)
When yous open the aforementioned Starlink kit box, y'all should run across a few things within: the setup instructions, the Starlink receiver dish, a mounting base, the Wi-Fi router, and a 75-foot cable to connect the dish and router.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
I received the current kit version: The second-generation dish has a rectangular shape, whereas the original was circular.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
The router comes with a ability cable, but the dish doesn't demand one—it uses the single connector cablevision to provide both power and data.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
The Starlink Wi-Fi router is the key to your new speedy internet connection and serves as the base unit for filling your dwelling with Starlink internet. You should observe a practiced spot for the router by following the aforementioned guidance for placing standard Wi-Fi routers.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
On the lesser are two connections: one for power and the other for connecting to your Starlink dish. At that place are no Ethernet ports for wired connections. And instead of the multiple glowing indicators you see on a standard cable modem, the Starlink unit of measurement has just ane that shows you whether the router is on. And it's non even visible on the front of the unit—information technology's on the bottom, next to the cable connection. If yous want to check that your Starlink organisation is online, you lot need to utilize the accompanying smartphone app (available for Android and iOS).
How to Install Starlink
(Photo: Brian Westover)
Get together the Dish, Stand, and Cable
One time you unpack your Starlink kit, you need to assemble the dish and mounting base. Start by unplugging the connection cablevision from the dish: It arrives plugged-in and you need to unplug it to seat the dish mast into the mounting base.
(Photograph: Brian Westover)
And so, insert the dish mast into the mounting base. Have care to line up the groove on the mast with the corresponding rail inside the mount.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
Once the mast is in place, you plug in the 75-foot connector cable with the straight plug connector. Every bit mentioned, the two ends of the cable use differently shaped connectors, and then it should be uncomplicated to determine the correct cease.
(Photograph: Brian Westover)
Be sure to insert the cable connector far enough. Yous should hear a distinct click when the plug seats properly into the socket.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
The entire assembled dish and mount was easy enough for me to acquit and move around myself.
Notice a Good Position for the Dish
The adjacent step is to mountain and position the assembled dish for optimal satellite reception.
Find a practiced position by using the Starlink app; it has an interactive tool that helps yous find and validate the proper position for a new dish, but the guidelines are like shooting fish in a barrel enough to understand. You need an unobstructed view of the sky, with at to the lowest degree 100 degrees of obstacle-free space to a higher place and around the dish. A large unobstructed swath of sky is necessary considering the dish does not maintain a fixed orientation. Although you mount information technology in i identify, the dish has a motor and volition readjust to maintain a connection with passing satellites.
Some ideas for mounting locations include an open field, a rooftop, or some other elevated structure (such as a pole) that'due south to a higher place obstructions such as fences, buildings, and trees.
With the Starlink app, you use your telephone's camera to browse the viewing area of the dish. The procedure involves pointing the photographic camera upwardly at the sky, which may require some creative positioning on your role to let you view the screen and movement the camera. Ideally, you want the photographic camera in approximately the same position equally the dish, which is roughly knee height. I constitute the easiest way to do this was to lay on the ground and look upwards at my telephone every bit I scanned the area.
The app walks you through this process, during which you lot point the photographic camera upward at the heaven, then sweep around the outer edges of that viewable area. The app places light-green dots onto the screen to point unscanned areas within the dish'due south field of view and a handy pointer shows you what area to scan adjacent.
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Once you lot scan a sufficient corporeality of sky, the app takes some time to procedure the data. Afterwards a few moments of number crunching, information technology tells you lot whether or not yous can get articulate reception from that position.
Mount the Dish
After scanning and validating your position, information technology'due south time to mount the dish. For bones installations like mine, that merely entails placing the dish mount on the basis. Merely you lot might not have the open space that I do or live in a neighborhood where you lot feel safe leaving your $600 dish out in the one thousand.
The mounting base includes holes in all four anxiety for screwing downward securely. You tin use these to attach the mount to a roof or a stock-still construction, as well as pale information technology to the ground. The kit does non include screws or stakes, you take to supply those yourself. For alternate mounting options, such every bit on a pole or a prior satellite dish mounting assembly, you lot need to obtain an additional adapter.
If y'all're worried about the conditions, specifically water ice and snow, the Starlink dish houses an internal heater that senses freezing temperatures and will warm up to melt away whatever frozen obstructions on the surface.
Run the Cable
Once the dish is in position, you need to run the cable to the router. For most users, this means running the cablevision into your dwelling. For my initial setup, I just led the cable through an open window: Information technology's a unproblematic (and temporary) solution, just it works fine.
Other options include drilling a hole through an exterior wall. Starlink sells accessories for routing cable through standard walls and another for bypassing masonry or concrete.
Once you get the cablevision into your dwelling, you lot need only plug information technology into the Wi-Fi router.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
To do this, utilize the angular plug connection on the 75-human foot connector cable. In one case once again, this plug connexion has a special shape that should help yous identify it. Information technology plugs only into the Starlink router and only in the proper orientation.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
You also need to plug in the power cable for the router, which powers both the router and the dish.
Once your connection is agile and the router is running, return to the Starlink app. In that location, you can monitor the status of your network connexion.
It takes a few moments for the dish to establish a connectedness to the satellites in a higher place, and so be patient. It's a quick (but not instantaneous) process. Once the dish establishes a connexion, the app informs you that you are online and prompts you to set upwards your Wi-Fi name and password.
How Fast Is Starlink?
One time you complete all these steps, you should accept internet access. Merely note that the promised speeds may not be bachelor right away. After the installation process, it may take a full 12 hours for the Starlink organisation to reach optimal performance. During that period, the system downloads the latest drivers; scans and maps the satellites around the dish; and calculates the optimal positions to communicate with the different satellites above. These connections conform automatically, so yous shouldn't take to worry nigh constantly tweaking your setup.
(Photo: Brian Westover)
In initial use, the Wi-Fi signal has surprisingly far reach, covering my entire 5-bedroom business firm and much of the thousand.
I plan to fully review the Starlink internet service later I've had the chance to test it for a few months, and then stay turned for a full review. In the meantime, bank check out our review of T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet service, another culling to cable and fiber connectivity that might be bachelor where you alive.
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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/starlink-starter-kit-how-to-get-it-and-set-it-up
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