Starlink Launch New Dish for LEO Satellite Broadband Service

SpaceX’s Starlink ISP, which delivers ultrafast low latency broadband across the world and the UK via a mega constellation of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has introduced a new rectangular dish and router that aims to put right some of the problems with their older equipment. But it’s not all good news.

At present SpaceX has already launched around 1,800 LEOs into space (1,666 are active) and their initial plan is to deploy a total of 4,425 by 2024. Customers in the UK typically pay a hefty £89 a month for the service, plus £54 for shipping and £439 for the kit (dish, router etc.). But for that you can expect unlimited usage, fast latency times of 20-40ms, downloads of c. 50-150Mbps and uploads of c.20Mbps (such figures should improve as the network grows).

However, it is widely known that there were some issues with Starlink’s first generation equipment, such as difficulties with tolerances for high wind and thermal shutdown on the router during heatwaves (here). On top of that, SpaceX have been constantly working to bring equipment costs down (at present they still make a loss but the new model will help).

The good news is that the provider has now quietly started to mention a new dish (Dishy 2.0?) and router on their Support Page, which look to have higher tolerances for heat (router) and is much more compact (dish). Essentially, the older circular dish (user terminal), which was 23″ wide, has been replaced with a rectangular one that is lighter (roughly half the weight) and smaller – measuring just 12″ wide (19″ long).

The new dish is also accompanied by a new router, which features faster WiFi (i.e. 3×3 MU-MIMO instead of 2×2), better heat tolerance (i.e. up to +50c instead of +30c) and the addition of IP54 rated water resistance. But the catch is that Starlink have removed the Gigabit Ethernet (LAN) port and if you want that then you’ll need to pay extra for an additional adapter.

This seems like an odd move and is possibly related to the new IP54 rating (difficult to do IP54 and a regular LAN port), but we’d much prefer a have LAN port than limited water resistance for most typical home uses. Finally, Starlink appears to be shipping a much wider array of mounting options for their dish.

At present, the Starlink site mentions that the new dish is only available for “all new orders fulfilled in the United States,” but that will no doubt change at some point. Anybody with a pre-order will probably get their circular dish until the existing stock has been depleted. However, if you were to make a new UK order for the service today, then you’ll still be waiting until mid-2022 for delivery.