Starlink Mini

[sintax]

Anyone pick one up yet?

Just ordered one from BestBuy, figured for $50 a mo roaming + the ability to turn it off, theres not much to lose.

This new mini can run on 12v (out of the box) which coupled with the small size (dish and router is 1 unit), is why I decided to try it.

 

[bagged97taco]

Been eyeballing getting one. Think the mini is just what I need for the rv.

 

[poncho]

I'm waiting to hear from the inmates.
Almost sounds too good to be true.

 

[sintax]

I'm waiting to hear from the inmates.
Almost sounds too good to be true.

Mine shows up tomorrow, so i'll let you know!

I was planning on working at the boat races next month, figured I might as well try not to use my phones hotspot for once.

Honestly I have a few friends who have the older 1st and 2nd gen starlinks and they only rave about them.

 

[sintax]

Been eyeballing getting one. Think the mini is just what I need for the rv.

yea, the mini seems to be the ticket.

Pros:
small
runs on 12v-48v (so basically any typically native voltage)
built in router ( no secondary box )

Cons:
$600

 

[bagged97taco]

yea, the mini seems to be the ticket.

Pros:
small
runs on 12v-48v (so basically any typically native voltage)
built in router ( no secondary box )

Cons:
$600

I want to know the speeds and coverage mostly. My wife works remotely and we travel a lot for the kids bmx. So seeing if this will work like I hope.

 

[Dog]

Some information HERE from a couple of days ago.

 

[poncho]

Mine shows up tomorrow, so i'll let you know!

I was planning on working at the boat races next month, figured I might as well try not to use my phones hotspot for once.

Honestly I have a few friends who have the older 1st and 2nd gen starlinks and they only rave about them.

I saw the mini a year ago when I bought my MH but shelved the idea as life got in the way at the time, friend of mine told me they had changed things to a $150.00 monthly service, he was wrong. That looks perfect for what I would use, have it on our fishing boat and it rips.

Starlink | Service Plans

Compare monthly service plans across our Starlink offerings.

www.starlink.com

 

[sintax]

I want to know the speeds and coverage mostly. My wife works remotely and we travel a lot for the kids bmx. So seeing if this will work like I hope.

From what I’ve seen on YouTube reviews you’re looking at 130-220 mbps, and coverage is no issue. You should have the equivalent speeds to your average cable modem. You’ll likely have some slightly degraded latency, but nothing that’ll be too bad

 

[sintax]

Initial results of the mini are mixed at this point.

Setup, stupid easy. Went from box to internet in 10m, including a firmware update.

Pointing it is dead simple, i eyeballed north and hit it. There is a tool in the app that you can observe as you turn it also, but it wasn’t needed. I confirmed it via the app and tuned it up.

It’s crazy small, light, and ideal for its use case.

Now for the cons…

I’m hitting around 30-60mpbs down, and 5ish mbps up.

While this is totally decent for surfing the net, sending some emails, etc… This unfortunately won’t really work for my needs.

I’m gonna do some further testing, see if I can tune it up some, and figure out if maybe it’s just local network saturation, as it doesn’t appear to be any obstructions based on what I’m seeing in the app.

If I can get 130ish up and 20-30 down I think I’d be good.

 

[DarkJuJu]

I have the OG starlink and my wife and I both run zoom calls at the same time from our rig in glamis no issues.

 

[sintax]

I have the OG starlink and my wife and I both run zoom calls at the same time from our rig in glamis no issues.

yea, thats what i'm needing.

I'll play around with it some more. I did some Facetime calls yesterday and they seemed decent.

 

[jailbird141]

I have had the regular Starlink for a year now and it has been flawless. Best purchase in a long time.

 

[mjc]

Initial results of the mini are mixed at this point.

Setup, stupid easy. Went from box to internet in 10m, including a firmware update.

Pointing it is dead simple, i eyeballed north and hit it. There is a tool in the app that you can observe as you turn it also, but it wasn’t needed. I confirmed it via the app and tuned it up.

It’s crazy small, light, and ideal for its use case.

Now for the cons…

I’m hitting around 30-60mpbs down, and 5ish mbps up.

While this is totally decent for surfing the net, sending some emails, etc… This unfortunately won’t really work for my needs.

I’m gonna do some further testing, see if I can tune it up some, and figure out if maybe it’s just local network saturation, as it doesn’t appear to be any obstructions based on what I’m seeing in the app.

If I can get 130ish up and 20-30 down I think I’d be good.

What are you doing that needs that kind of speed?

 

[Ricks raft]

What are you doing that needs that kind of speed?

Agreed. 30 down 5 up is enough for 2 zoom calls….our local dsl best is 25 dn 5 up. The last 10-15 regular residential units I’ve installed are averaging 300 down 15 up.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Different but i got pissed at Suddenlink/Optimum yesterday and ran to Home Depot and bought Starlink, and so far all i can say is it’s damn fast and seems from all the reviews I’ve read it’s pretty much a never lose internet connection system

 

[counterpart7]

What are you guys paying per month?

 

[Nosocks]

yea, thats what i'm needing.

I'll play around with it some more. I did some Facetime calls yesterday and they seemed decent.

If that's what you're doing then you do not need 20-30 up.

The software needs a fraction of that to function. You need something consistent with minimal packet loss.

Starlink does this well.

I think older units had kinda rough latency. Not sure about the mini but my Gen 3 standard one is indistinguishable, if not better than, my home cable.

 

[sintax]

What are you doing that needs that kind of speed?

Agreed. 30 down 5 up is enough for 2 zoom calls….our local dsl best is 25 dn 5 up. The last 10-15 regular residential units I’ve installed are averaging 300 down 15 up.

So video calls are a big part of my day, I can also end up having to grab numerous azure Devops projects that could be anywhere from 500-2gb in size.

Another big consumer of bandwidth is video streaming via plex. Yes I know, camping camping, but it makes it easier to get my lady to go when we can watch a couple of shows in bed at night.

While it can transcode and get a reasonable stream, it is nice to not have it look like an 8bit video game.

I’m currently checking Starlink PoP’s (mainly identifying if that’s the source of my issues).

I’ll do some further testing later in the month in a more remote location

 

[sintax]

What are you guys paying per month?

The mini roam is a $50 for 50gb

 

[sintax]

Just wanted to do a little follow up on this…

I’ve gotten more time with the Starlink and learned a few things. I can say that I’m quite happy with it so far and have gotten pretty darn good performance out of it, and have had zero issues.

I’ll be integrating a 24v dc-dc into my camper to hardware it soon to do away with the wall wart.

Would recommend to any travelers, for home users, def stick with the full size dish.

 

[Maw]

Bought one (StarLink Mini) for our bigger boat, looking to mount it up on the radar arch this weekend. Also going to upgrade our Wilson cell phone booster to a 5G version as long as we're crawling around up there.

 

[LBsuperJET]

Is there a way (yet) to permanently mount the mini to the top of a travel trailer in a fixed position so to avoid the constant setup/teardown each time we go out camping? That would be the thing that gets me to buy the system...

 

[Done-it-again]

Is there a way (yet) to permanently mount the mini to the top of a travel trailer in a fixed position so to avoid the constant setup/teardown each time we go out camping? That would be the thing that gets me to buy the system...

I was thinking this would work.... just pricey

RoamSat | Internet on the Go

Introducing the ultimate truly mobile and self-contained power source for the Starlink Satellite Internet Dish

roamsat.com

 

[sintax]

I was thinking this would work.... just pricey

RoamSat | Internet on the Go

Introducing the ultimate truly mobile and self-contained power source for the Starlink Satellite Internet Dish

roamsat.com

Yea, thats super overkill i think. If you're rolling around with a mess of batteries anyways, why worry about having more to manage and care for. Just run it natively off of your onboard bank.

Is there a way (yet) to permanently mount the mini to the top of a travel trailer in a fixed position so to avoid the constant setup/teardown each time we go out camping? That would be the thing that gets me to buy the system...

So for perm or semi-perm mounting...

I'd look at something like this, and they also have rail mounted options i've seen also.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1761177359/lps-starlink-mini-mount-and-case

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1768802091/starlink-mini-vehicle-mount

 

[SPFRONTMAN]

I was thinking this would work.... just pricey

RoamSat | Internet on the Go

Introducing the ultimate truly mobile and self-contained power source for the Starlink Satellite Internet Dish

roamsat.com

when's its at a fixed location though, how do you turn it north and align it with your phone in the right direction to get the ample amount of connection? By the way, mine is being delivered to my home Monday.

 

[Done-it-again]

when's its at a fixed location though, how do you turn it north and align it with your phone in the right direction to get the ample amount of connection? By the way, mine is being delivered to my home Monday.

IDK. But from what I’ve read you don’t need to and it works while moving.

 

[sintax]

when's its at a fixed location though, how do you turn it north and align it with your phone in the right direction to get the ample amount of connection? By the way, mine is being delivered to my home Monday.

IDK. But from what I’ve read you don’t need to and it works while moving.

Yea, i have not tested yet, but i've read the same thing. The pointing north thing is "best" but it supposedly works just fine pointing up (assuming you dont have any obstructions)

I've seen a few people who jammed their mini in between their moonroof and the interior cover and have had good results moving with that