Two Weeks with Starlink

This changes everything

Benjamin Porter
5 min readApr 15, 2021
Starlink dish on tripod in my yard
Starlink dish on tripod in my yard

Quick Info

  • Location: Eastern Idaho
  • Average Speeds (in Mbps): 75 to 150, occasionally up to 210
  • Set up time (on the ground): 30 seconds
  • Reliability: daily bouts of down time (but it is still a beta)
  • Interoperability: My Protectli CentOS-based router works fine with it

Intro

Last summer I moved to an area with only one serious internet option: a wireless ISP that suffers regular downtime and slow speeds, and quite expensive for what you get. Internet is critical for my remote work, so I jumped quickly when the Starlink beta was announced.

I am frequently asked about what it’s like to use Starlink for home internet. There is information out there on the internet, but it’s not well organized. I thought I would write about my experience.

Dish Setup

Unopened Starlink dish box
Unopened Starlink dish box

It could not have been easier to unpack and get it going. It was literally just lift the tripod and dish out of the (very nice) box and click the dish in.

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Benjamin Porter

Ben Porter is a Software Engineer who specializes in distributed applications (like web apps). He is currently Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Ameelio.org