Starlink Mini In-Depth Setup and Review
Summary
TLDRThe Starlink Mini, SpaceX's latest satellite dish, offers a compact and portable solution for on-the-go internet. This video provides an in-depth look at its specifications, showcasing a simple setup process and testing its internet speeds and power consumption. With a smaller form factor and lower power usage compared to previous models, the Starlink Mini is ideal for RVs, camping, and remote locations. Two service plans are available, with the option to pause service for part-time users. The integrated Wi-Fi and ethernet port provide versatile connectivity, making it an excellent choice for those seeking reliable internet access away from traditional infrastructure.
Takeaways
- đ Starlink Mini is a new, smaller and lighter satellite dish designed for improved portability and reduced power consumption.
- đ The Starlink Mini comes with a power adapter that suggests potential for alternative power options, including a 12-volt short cable and a USB-C to barrel jack cable in the future.
- đŠ The package includes a Starlink Mini dish, a power adapter, a pole mount, and a 15-meter power cable.
- đ° The Starlink Mini dish costs $599, with service plans available at $150 for unlimited data or $50 for a 50GB data cap with additional usage billed at $1 per GB.
- đ¶ The integrated Wi-Fi is a 3x3 multi-user MIMO Wi-Fi 5 access point, which is sufficient for local communication and can also be used as a WAN-only device with an ethernet port.
- đ Starlink Mini is IP67 weather rated, making it dustproof and capable of withstanding immersion in water, but loses this rating when the ethernet port is unplugged.
- đ The setup process is straightforward, involving power connection, app setup, and alignment with the help of the Starlink app.
- đ Initial speed tests showed download speeds of up to 138 Mbps and upload speeds of 16.4 Mbps with a latency of 54 milliseconds, which are subject to fluctuation due to satellite movement.
- đ Power consumption is significantly lower when idle, ranging from 20 to 30 watts, and increases to around 40 watts during active use like speed testing.
- đ Starlink Mini is marketed as a portable solution for mobile use cases such as RVs, camping, or remote deployments, and is not intended to replace the full-size dish for residential use.
- đ ïž Accessories for Starlink Mini are already being developed, such as mounts with handles and places to hide tracking devices like Apple AirTags.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the Starlink Mini dish?
-The Starlink Mini dish is designed to provide a portable and power-efficient satellite internet solution for various scenarios such as RVs, camping, remote deployments, and areas without traditional internet access.
How does the Starlink Mini dish address the size and power consumption issues of previous versions?
-The Starlink Mini is smaller and lighter than previous versions, and it consumes less power, with an idle power consumption between 20 to 30 watts, compared to the 40 to 60 watts of the Gen 3 dish.
What is included in the Starlink Mini box?
-The box contains the Starlink Mini dish, a power adapter with a circular plug, a pole mount, a 15-meter (50-foot) power cable, and setup instructions.
What are the two service plans available for Starlink Mini, and what are their main differences?
-The two service plans are Mobile Regional and Mini Rome. Mobile Regional costs $150 per month with unlimited data and allows in-motion usage up to 10 miles per hour. Mini Rome costs $50 per month with a 50-gigabyte data cap and no limit on in-motion usage.
How does the Starlink Mini dish integrate networking functionalities?
-The Starlink Mini integrates all networking functionalities into the dish itself, eliminating the need for a separate router. It includes a built-in wireless access point with Wi-Fi 5 and an RJ45 ethernet port for wired connectivity.
What is the price of the Starlink Mini dish, and how does it compare to the standard residential dish?
-The Starlink Mini dish is priced at $599, while the standard residential dish has been lowered to $499 with promotions as low as $199 in some locations.
What is the physical size and weight of the Starlink Mini dish with the kickstand and cable attached?
-The Starlink Mini dish measures 12 inches by 10.25 inches and weighs just over three pounds with the kickstand and cable attached.
What is the IP rating of the Starlink Mini dish, and what does it mean for its weather resistance?
-The Starlink Mini dish has an IP67 rating, which means it is dustproof and can withstand being immersed in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes, making it suitable for outdoor installations in any weather.
What is the initial setup process for the Starlink Mini dish like?
-The initial setup involves plugging in the power, connecting to the dish with the app, ensuring it's pointed in the right direction, and following the app's instructions for orientation and updates.
How do the speeds and power consumption of the Starlink Mini compare to the standard Gen 3 dish during a speed test?
-During a speed test, the Starlink Mini achieved speeds of 138 megabits down and 16.4 megabits up, with the power consumption jumping from 27 to 30 watts at idle to around 40 watts during the test, compared to the Gen 3 dish's 40 to 60 watts idle and over 100 watts during booting.
How does the Starlink Mini dish handle power options, and are there any upcoming features in this regard?
-The Starlink Mini supports a range of input voltages from 12 to 48 volts, and there are indications of upcoming alternative power options such as a 12-volt short Starlink cable and a USB-C to barrel jack cable accessory for use in RVs and off-the-grid deployments.
Outlines
đ Starlink Mini Introduction and Setup
The video introduces the new Starlink Mini satellite dish, promising improvements in size and power consumption over previous versions. The host discusses the setup process, which is straightforward, involving power connection and app-based orientation. The box contents are revealed, including a power adapter, pole mount, and a 15-meter power cable. The Starlink Mini is positioned as a more portable and less power-hungry option, with a focus on its unboxing and initial impressions.
đĄ Starlink Mini's Features and Pricing
This paragraph delves into the Starlink Mini's specifications, including its compact size, integrated networking capabilities, and the absence of a separate router. The built-in Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi 5, deemed sufficient for local device communication. The paragraph also covers the pricing of the Starlink Mini dish and service plans, with options for Mobile Regional and Mini Rome, highlighting the flexibility of service pausing and the potential for in-motion usage.
đ Starlink Mini's Power and Connectivity Options
The host explores the Starlink Mini's power options, noting the potential for future alternative power solutions suitable for RVs and off-grid use. The paragraph emphasizes the integrated access point and the availability of both wireless and wired connectivity. The IP67 weather rating is mentioned, discussing its implications for outdoor installations and the use of the Ethernet port.
đ Starlink Mini's Initial Setup and Performance
The video demonstrates the simple initial setup of the Starlink Mini, using an external power source to simulate remote power scenarios. The process involves connecting to the Starlink SSID, updating the device, and configuring Wi-Fi. The host then conducts speed tests, comparing results from the Starlink app and Oocla, noting the variability in speed due to satellite connectivity. The power consumption during idle and active use is also measured, showing the efficiency of the Starlink Mini.
đïž Starlink Mini's Utility and Recommendations
In the final paragraph, the host shares his positive impressions of the Starlink Mini, praising its size, speed, and power efficiency. He recommends it for mobile use such as RVs, camping, and remote deployments, while suggesting the full-size residential dish for fixed locations. The host also mentions upcoming accessories for the Mini and concludes by encouraging viewers to like, subscribe, and watch related videos.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄStarlink Mini
đĄRogue Support
đĄPower Consumption
đĄInternet Speeds
đĄService Plans
đĄIP67 Weather Rating
đĄEthernet Port
đĄWi-Fi 5
đĄPortable Battery
đĄSetup Process
đĄSpeed Test
Highlights
Starlink Mini is introduced as a more portable and less power-hungry satellite dish compared to previous versions.
Rogue Support is highlighted for their comprehensive networking issue solutions regardless of equipment used.
Starlink Mini addresses size and power consumption issues with a smaller, lighter design and lower wattage during idle and operation.
The unboxing reveals the Starlink Mini contents including a power adapter, pole mount, and a 50-foot power cable.
Starlink Mini's pricing is detailed, with the dish costing $599 and service plans ranging from $50 to $150 per month.
Two service plans for Starlink Mini are introduced: Mobile Regional with unlimited data and Mini Rome with a 50GB data cap.
Starlink Mini's size is compared to a piece of paper, emphasizing its compactness for portability.
The DC power cable for Starlink Mini suggests potential for alternative power options in the future.
Starlink Mini integrates all networking into the dish itself, eliminating the need for a separate router.
The built-in wireless access point in Starlink Mini supports Wi-Fi 5, which is deemed sufficient for local device communication.
Starlink Mini's RJ45 ethernet port allows for wired connectivity, but the IP67 weather rating is compromised when used.
The initial setup process for Starlink Mini is demonstrated to be quick and simple, requiring only power connection and app setup.
Starlink Mini's speed test results are presented, showing high download and upload speeds with reasonable latency.
Power consumption tests show Starlink Mini's efficiency during idle and active use, with a notable increase during speed tests.
Starlink Mini is praised for its superior performance in terms of size, speed, and power consumption compared to previous models.
The video concludes with the presenter's positive review of Starlink Mini, recommending it for mobile and remote use cases.
Accessories for Starlink Mini are mentioned, indicating a growing ecosystem for the portable satellite dish.
Transcripts
Starlink Mini is here, and this may just be the Starlink satellite dish that you've been waiting for.
In this video, I'm going to go over all of the specs of this new dish,
we're going to set it up in my backyard, and we're going to test it out for both internet
speeds and power consumption. There's a lot to get to, so let's get started.
No matter which Starlink dish you may be having trouble with, Rogue Support can help.
We specialize in getting to the core of your networking issues, regardless of the equipment
that you're using. And this is what sets Rogue Support apart from single vendor support. We won't
point fingers at some other company and tell you that it's their problem to deal with. We actually
solved the issue. Our team of friendly expert technicians is standing by to ensure that your
network is running so smoothly, you never even have to think about it. So say goodbye to Network
and Internet problems today by contacting Rogue Support on the web at rogue.support. And remember,
you don't pay anything until your issue is resolved. Give us a shot, you won't be disappointed.
Starlink Mini addresses two of the biggest complaints with previous versions of the Starlink
satellite dish, which are size and power consumption. While the Starlink Gen 2 and Gen 3
rectangular dishes were much smaller and lighter than the original round Gen 1 dish, there's
still pretty good size and they're not super portable. They also pull a ton of wattage with
the latest Gen 3 dish averaging between 40 to 60 watts when idle and bursting up over 100 watts
while booting up. Now we have a dish that's smaller, lighter and less power hungry. So let's
see what comes in the box. All right, this is the first time that I'm seeing the Starlink Mini in
person. So let's get it out of the box. Right away when we open it up, we can see all of the
instructions for how to set it up. Starlink historically has always been super, super simple
to get up and running. And in this case, you plug in power, you connect to it with the app,
and you just make sure that it's pointed in the right direction and you're online, you're good to
go. Inside the box, we have our power adapter right here. You can see that it has a circular
plug that plugs in separately. This is because there are some new power options with Starlink
Mini that we're going to talk about in this video. Also here, we have a pole mount for the Starlink
Mini. And then if we open up this section right here, here is the Starlink Mini dish itself.
Absolutely gorgeous. You also get a 15 meter or 50 foot power cable. We'll put that to the side
for now. And that's about it inside the box. All right, so there is the Starlink Mini. On the back
here, we have our standard kickstand mount, the same thing that comes with the newer Gen 3 dish.
And then we have a plug for power. And then we have a plug for ethernet, which we will also talk
about here in this video. But let's start with pricing or in other words, how hard is the Starlink
Mini dish and service going to hit you in the wallet? Now, the dish itself is $599 and I also
paid $20 in shipping. So that being said, with the release of Starlink Mini, SpaceX has lowered the
price of the standard residential dish to $499. And they're even running promotions as low as
$199 for the full size dish in some locations. As far as service, there are two separate Starlink
Mini service plans available. You've got Mobile Regional and Mini Rome. Mobile Regional is $150
a month and it gets you unlimited data. Mini Rome is $50 a month, but it has a 50 gigabyte data cap.
So for a real world example of 50 gigabytes of data, that's equivalent to approximately 25 hours
of standard HD 1080p Netflix streaming. Now, if you hit that 50 gigabyte cap, additional usage
is billed out at $1 per gigabyte, which is optional. I think you actually have to opt into
overages. Now with either of these service plans, you do have the option of pausing the service when
you're not using it, meaning that you can turn it on and off at will. And Starlink does prorate
their monthly invoices if you happen to restart your service in the middle of a billing cycle.
Now this is great for part-time or seasonal users who don't want to get stuck with a bill for
internet service when they're not actually using the dish. The other difference between these plans
is that the Mobile Regional or Unlimited plan allows for in-motion usage of the dish up to 10
miles an hour, whereas the Mini Rome plan has no limit on in-motion usage. Now that being said,
I did test the standard Gen 3 dish in motion on a 12-hour road trip using the Mobile Regional plan,
and I had no problem at all using the service, even at, you know, 80 miles an hour. So
I'm not sure how strictly those rules are enforced. Starlink Mini measures just a bit bigger than a
piece of paper, coming in at 12 inches by about 10 and a quarter inches and weighing just over
three pounds with the kickstand and cable attached. And here you can see a size comparison
to the Gen 3 Starlink dish. Of course, Starlink Mini is much, much smaller. The included DC power
cable is 50 feet or 15 meters, and it seems that there actually may be some interesting
alternative power options coming in the future. The datasheet says that the input rating is
between 12 to 48 volts with a 12-volt short Starlink cable coming soon. There also seems
to be a USB-C to barrel jack cable accessory also coming soon, which to me means they're including
a lot more power options for RVs and off-the-grid deployments who may not have a standard AC wall
jack available. Another thing that you might notice right away is that Starlink Mini has no
separate router. All of the networking is integrated right into the dish itself,
which I absolutely love. The integrated wireless is a three-by-three multi-user MIMO Wi-Fi 5
access point. And you might be asking, hey, why isn't it Wi-Fi 6 like the Starlink Gen 3 router?
So to me, Wi-Fi 5 is perfectly fine for this dish, right? You're never going to get Wi-Fi 6
speeds out to the internet through this dish. So the type of wireless that's being used is really
only for communication between devices locally. So like if you had to back up files wirelessly
from your laptop over to a NAS device or something like that. So other than those pretty specific use
cases, you don't need Wi-Fi 6 speeds in this device. And since it has an ethernet port,
you can always just use Starlink Mini as a WAN-only device plugged into your own separate
network infrastructure. And then you can build that out to be as robust as you want.
Most of the people using Starlink Mini, however, likely aren't going to be using it for that,
right? It's going to be used as a temporary internet solution for your RV or while you're
out camping or out on some remote deployment somewhere and for just straight up remote
internet connectivity. And so for just straight up remote internet connectivity, this is perfect.
And as I mentioned, Starlink Mini has a built-in wireless access point, but it also has an RJ45
ethernet port for wired connectivity. Now this is great for when you want to hardwire your laptop
or when you want to use Starlink Mini as the WAN source for your own equipment. But there is one
interesting note when using the ethernet port. Starlink Mini is IP67 weather rated, meaning that
it's dustproof and it can withstand being immersed in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes.
Basically, you can install this directly outside in any type of weather without bricking the dish.
But when you pull the plug on the ethernet port, it is now no longer IP67 weather rated. So
keep that in mind if you're going to be using your own equipment. Now Starlink has a note on
their website that the IP67 rating is maintained if you use their ethernet cable, but that cable
hasn't been released yet. So we don't really have any details on what kind of cable lengths
are going to be available, but it may already be in the store by the time you're watching this
video. Okay, now onto the fun part. Let's go outside and go through the initial setup of
Starlink Mini. Okay, so initial setup of Starlink Mini is going to be super, super simple. I have an
EcoFlow Delta here that I'm going to be using to power up the device, kind of simulating
something that you might have to power this up if you are on the road or away from shore power.
One end of the power cable goes into the AC adapter. All right, I turned on AC in the back
of the device and plugged it in. Now we take the Starlink Mini and you want to position it
basically kind of north facing. So we're going to put it north, but first we want to plug in the
power. All right, so power is in and it should be booting up. Now that's it for setup, right?
I'm not connecting this to any sort of external firewall or anything like that, which would
require a little bit of extra setup with the ethernet plug, but I'm just using this as is,
like if I was camping or something, right? So at this point we just need to fire up the Starlink
app and then follow the instructions in there and we should be online pretty quickly. All right,
so opening up my Wi-Fi settings, I see a Starlink SSID. That's the first thing we want to do is
connect to that SSID. All right, and now that I'm connected, you want to open up the Starlink app.
And here it says calculating orientation. This means that the dish is trying to communicate
with some satellites. Once it figures out exactly its position in the world, it will pop up a little
thing for me to actually adjust it into the proper orientation. Okay, that was pretty quick. And now
it says online and it is downloading an update. And once it's done updating, I will come back and
finish the setup. Okay, so total time here. We're talking about two minutes to get this thing out
of the box and plugged in and then another five minutes or so to update the dish. And now we are
online and that's it. So I'm not going to run a speed test just yet. I have two things here. It
says Wi-Fi not configured as well as a software update. So I think it downloaded the update,
but maybe it doesn't apply it until you run that. So let's do the Wi-Fi first.
We're going to call this Starlink Mini as the SSID. And we'll give it a nice secure strong
password of 123456789. Obviously, if you're using this in production, make sure you use a nice
strong password for your wireless SSID. We're going to say submit. And now it's going to reload
the Wi-Fi and I assume I will have to reconnect to the new SSID in just a moment. Okay, and now
it says connect to Starlink Wi-Fi. We're going to go ahead and connect to that new SSID. Yes,
okay, we're connected. Let's close this up here. And now we're going to run the software update.
Yes, so we're going to let this run the update. Once it's done, I will come back once again,
and we'll start doing our speed test. Alright, so the second update took a little bit longer,
about 10 minutes total. But we are now fully online with Starlink Mini. So let's take a look
at the statistics here. And keep in mind, as I'm running speed tests, that the note at the top
says your Starlink just powered on network performance should stabilize after about 15
minutes. So just bear that in mind. I'm not going to wait the full 15 minutes to do this.
Before we get to the speed test, though, let's look at the alignment. So under alignment,
we can see that I am just a little bit off. And one of the cool things about this app
is it actually does update in real time as you move the dish around. So let's go ahead and do
that. Now we can see that it's pretty good, but it's just a little bit off. So we're going to
shift it just ever so slightly like that. And now we can see that it is aligned. Actually,
let me go back just a little bit. Alright, perfect. And we'll say done. Okay, so now
that we're perfectly aligned with the Starlink Mini, let's go ahead and run a speed test through
the app here. And we ended up with 138 megabits down and 16.4 megabits up with a 54 millisecond
latency. That is just awesome. Alright, so imagine what we're doing here, we have this tiny dish,
it's a little bit bigger than the size of a piece of paper, we're plugged into a portable battery
bank out in my backyard, it's connecting up to satellites in the sky, and I'm getting 138
megabits worth of download. That is phenomenal. Now the speeds of the Starlink Mini aren't supposed
to be as good as the speeds of the standard size residential dish. The standard size residential
dish, I typically get speeds between 150 up to a maximum of about 300 megabits per second. So
I'm not expecting to get the same speeds that I get with the full size dish. But again,
this isn't made for residential, this is made for camping, right? The pictures online show a guy
with this thing on his backpack, right? So it's made to be portable. And if you're in a situation
where you just need some internet out in a very remote spot, 138 megabits is phenomenal. But let's
not trust the Starlink app completely. Let's also bring up the Oocla speed test. We're going to say
go. And so the Oocla speed test shows us 82 megabits down by about 14 and a half megabits up.
Not as good as the other speed tests from Starlink, but still really, really phenomenal.
And keep in mind that Starlink is connecting to satellites up in the sky that are flying over
at very fast rates of speed. So there is a lot of fluctuation in speeds when you're using Starlink.
That's just sort of the nature of the game. If I run this speed test again in five minutes,
I might get a totally different result. It might be even better than the Starlink speed test.
That's just how it works. All right, we've set up the Starlink Mini. We've done some speed testing.
Now what about power? Let's check that next. So when idle, Starlink Mini appears to pull between
20 to 30 watts, which is a lot better than the 40 to 60 watts when idle that we see with the
standard Gen 3 Starlink dish. Interesting though, take a look at this. Right now we can see that
we're at about 30 watts, 27 to 30 watts as it's just sitting idle. I'm going to run a speed test
and watch the wattage jump up. We're going to say speed test go.
And look at that. It popped up to 40 watts as I'm getting a download test happening from
speedtest.net. Now we're on the upload test again around 40 watts and now back to idle. So that
speed test got me 138 down by 14 and a half up and it bounced the actual wattage of the Starlink
Mini up about 10 watts throughout the duration of that speed test. That's pretty interesting.
So what do I think about the Starlink Mini? I absolutely love it. All right, the size speaks
for itself. The speeds speak for themselves. The power consumption speaks for itself.
By almost every measure, this dish is superior to all previous Starlink versions. If you're using
Starlink in any sort of mobile capacity for RVs or camping or hiking up to a remote mountain top
or for off the grid deployments, this is the dish that you're going to want to use. If you're using
Starlink in a fixed location, such as at your home or at a business, then you're still going to want
to go for the full-size residential dish in order to squeeze out that extra bandwidth. But the
Starlink Mini is made to be portable and used in motion and it's even marketed that way on Starlink's
website. Other companies are also already coming out with Starlink Mini accessories like this
striker mount that gives the Mini a handle and a nice place to hide an Apple AirTag. So yeah,
Starlink has come a long way since the initial Generation 1 dish that I reviewed back in February
of 2021. And I love that bringing broadband internet anywhere in the world is now available
in such an easy to use package with such a compact form factor. This video, by the way,
is not sponsored by SpaceX. I purchased this Starlink Mini dish as well as the service with
my own hard-earned money, some of which comes from YouTube views. So be sure to like this video
if you learned something new and subscribe to Crosstalk Solutions so that you don't miss out
on any future videos. And if you'd like to keep this party going, I have hand-selected a couple
of videos on the right here for you to watch next. The top video is my full overview and setup of the
full-size Gen 3 Starlink dish that now has over 1 million views. And the bottom video is my full
wireless design video for the silver mining ghost town of Cerro Gordo, California.
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
How I get Blazing Fast Internet Off Grid - Mega Rural Network Tour
SpaceX Starlink Revealed This By Accident
Layanan Starlink Elon Musk Terpasang di IKN, Masyarakat Bisa Jajal Internet Cepat
Which Starlink is Better on a Boat? Maritime, RV, High Performance In-Motion or Residential?
SpaceX Starlink - Project Kuiper Tests 1000 Dishes
How does Starlink Satellite Internet Work?đĄâđ„
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)