Starlink Mini

[marklg]

Tossed on the dash in the driveway. In the trees, way out of alignment, zero effort.

When significantly obstructed, the ping success rate is more telling than an instantaneous speed test. If you run 100 speed tests, you will get 100 different numbers, some of them very bad or even fail to connect. That is not necessarily bad as the outtages may only last a few seconds. Streaming will buffer up and you probably won't notice. I'm using it as a mobile office doing Teams calls, so putting it on the roof limits the outages.

Here is the ping rate for when it's highly obstructed, only 2.28% ping success. But the DNS requests are at 95% because it can wait for an answer for those, probably even minutes till the next connection.



As to the various plans, face it, if you compare to what you pay for cellular service, it's a bargain for much better throughput and availability. They virtually have no real competition and don't act like the big three cell companies which theoretically at least have competition. I have an older Verizon plan that they gauged $20 for each 1 GB overage. I also have a Visible phone, that is only $25 a month, but speed is often barely more than the Starlink $5 plan. The $5 plan provides more than an Inreach $15 plan. You can always share your location on whatever you are connecting with. For those with a Yacht or Private Jet, their plans are still way less than Iridium or Inmarsat with way more throughput.

I have not seen cost comparisons, but I bet their reusable launchers provide a cost at or below the cost of planning, getting approvals for and building cell towers and getting a backhaul and power to each one.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Maslin]

your cat did not like it.

Not a fan

 

[Maslin]

When significantly obstructed, the ping success rate is more telling than an instantaneous speed test. If you run 100 speed tests, you will get 100 different numbers, some of them very bad or even fail to connect. That is not necessarily bad as the outtages may only last a few seconds. Streaming will buffer up and you probably won't notice. I'm using it as a mobile office doing Teams calls, so putting it on the roof limits the outages.

As to the various plans, face it, if you compare to what you pay for cellular service, it's a bargain for much better throughput and availability. They virtually have no real competition and don't act like the big three cell companies which theoretically at least have competition. I have an older Verizon plan that they gauged $20 for each 1 GB overage. I also have a Visible phone, that is only $25 a month, but speed is often barely more than the Starlink $5 plan. The $5 plan provides more than an Inreach $15 plan. You can always share your location on whatever you are connecting with. For those with a Yacht or Private Jet, their plans are still way less than Iridium or Inmarsat with way more throughput.

I have not seen cost comparisons, but I bet their reusable launchers provide a cost at or below the cost of planning, getting approvals for and building cell towers and getting a backhaul and power to each one.

Regards,

Mark

When I started it up it needed another update. After the download and restart I had terrible coverage for a good 15 minutes, like 24% ping success. After that, it cleared up and pulled 150-170 consistently. It's not instant like an LTE or 5g system, if that matters to someone.

 

[marklg]

When I starterd it up it needed another update. After the download and restart I had terrible coverage for a good 15 minutes, like 24% ping success. After that, it cleared up and pulled 150-170 consistently. It's not instant like an LTE or 5g system, if that matters to someone.

If you move it or obstruct it differently, it may help to clear the obstruction map so it figures out anew where it can see the sky. It will get better after minutes or hours as it learns where to point the antenna beams and where to not waste effort trying.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Larry M]

In northern New England and the Canadian Maritimes, I use a compass app and set the mini toward the northern sky on set up. It’s pretty spot on for the most part. Our stays are usually with some trees. We’ve used the mini on the dash an heading south vs north, the connection was out more than in.

 

[vreihen]

If you move it or obstruct it differently, it may help to clear the obstruction map so it figures out anew where it can see the sky. It will get better after minutes or hours as it learns where to point the antenna beams and where to not waste effort trying.

I did this when I moved it from the yard to the dashboard, and let it sit for the good part of a day on the dash with no improvement.....

 

[Larry M]

Starlink dropped the price on the Mini to $229.

 

[Twindaddy]

Starlink dropped the price on the Mini to $229.

Must mean the Starlink Micro is just around the corner
Still happy with my purchase at the $299 price. Also had a couple friends pick them up using my referral code, so will ride those credits well into 2026.

 

[marklg]

Starlink dropped the price on the Mini to $229.

I saw this. They are also available at many Home Depots and Best Buys if you want instant gratification today. That's getting down into buy another one as a hot spare and activate it on the $5 plan, which does not show on the website landing page. Mine is still on that plan they call the standby plan.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Larry M]

That's getting down into buy another one as a hot spare and activate it on the $5 plan, which does not show on the website landing page…

Regards,

Mark

It doesn’t look like the $5/plan can be used for the first activation. Still, what is going to be the bottom of the hardware cost?

 

[JC88]

It doesn’t look like the $5/plan can be used for the first activation. Still, what is going to be the bottom of the hardware cost?

View attachment 388453

Same for the $10 plan. Had to activate on $50 plan and then next month roll to $10 plan.

And the residential plans are coming with FREE hardware.

 

[blutow]

And the residential plans are coming with FREE hardware

Yep, it's all about the recurring subscription revenue. Whatever it cost them to manufacture the hardware, it's nothing compared to the revenue they will get from that hardware over it's lifetime. I'd bet all the hardware has been sold below cost since they launched the service.

 

[gltrimble]

I'd bet all the hardware has been sold below cost since they launched the service.

I recall that the original $600 Starlink package cost over $2000 to produce. Production costs have likely dropped since then but as you stated it likely costs more than they sell iit for.

 

[r456]

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. is an existential threat to Starlink. As a result, SpaceX has refused paid launch services for AST’s direct-to-cell (DTC) satellites. AST’s satellites can connect directly to unmodified phones from space, while Starlink currently needs ground stations to provide that capability. However, Starlink has begun adopting DTC-like technologies, and its newer satellites can function similarly to AST’s.


Major carriers worldwide are lining up to sign deals with AST, putting immense pressure on Starlink. In the end, I believe Starlink and AST may share the global (excluding China) satellite-based 6G market roughly 60:40. Global governments and telecom carriers want competition so that Starlink cannot dictate all the terms.

 

[marklg]

Yep, it's all about the recurring subscription revenue. Whatever it cost them to manufacture the hardware, it's nothing compared to the revenue they will get from that hardware over it's lifetime. I'd bet all the hardware has been sold below cost since they launched the service.

They turned the corner to profitability in maybe 2024, and profit is growing wildly since, in the billions per year.

They can put the satellites up in low Earth orbit for less than $2000 / kg. Everybody else is $10,000 / kg and up. It's the very definition of "you've got to spend money to make money"

Anyone else using other launchers has a difficult time to be profitable, at least today. New Glenn should be comparable. When Starship gets to full reusability, they are expecting as low as $20 / kg to LEO. They can again undercut everyone else.

I'm not sure if or when they will achieve that, but they have a significant competitive advantage.

Regards,

Mark

 

[Larry M]

From a news feed this morning. Competition has a lot of catching up to do. So far this year, 1,579 Starlink satellites have been launched from Florida.


Brooke Edwards
Florida Today
USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

---

…Last year saw 93 rockets take off from the Space Coast. Now with just more than seven weeks left in the year, Florida is on track to count more than 100 launches.

The Nov. 10 liftoff was a batch of 29 Starlink internet satellites, referred to as Starlink 6-87. Overall, it marked the 62nd Starlink mission from Florida in 2025. In total for the year, 1,579 Starlink satellites have been launched from the Space Coast…

 

[marklg]

From a news feed this morning. Competition has a lot of catching up to do. So far this year, 1,579 Starlink satellites have been launched from Florida.


Brooke Edwards
Florida Today
USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

---

…Last year saw 93 rockets take off from the Space Coast. Now with just more than seven weeks left in the year, Florida is on track to count more than 100 launches.

The Nov. 10 liftoff was a batch of 29 Starlink internet satellites, referred to as Starlink 6-87. Overall, it marked the 62nd Starlink mission from Florida in 2025. In total for the year, 1,579 Starlink satellites have been launched from the Space Coast…

As a comparison, AST has 5 satellites up, and is planning 60 more next year. They just have a ways to go to reach the 10,000 or so put up by Starlink. Oneweb has 654, so they are getting to the same ballpark, but you still do have to wave your phone around to catch one. The ads for T Mobile Satellite via Starlink are not wrong. The counts are not quite comparable, as the competition are in higher orbits so less are needed, but the higher orbits weaken the signals.

Regards,

Mark

 

[vreihen]

The counts are not quite comparable, as the competition are in higher orbits so less are needed, but the higher orbits weaken the signals.

...and stay in sight over a particular spot on Earth longer because they are visible for a longer time from their higher orbits....

 

[marklg]

...and stay in sight over a particular spot on Earth longer because they are visible for a longer time from their higher orbits....

Yes, so less are needed. The math for transmit power needed is simple. Double the distance and you need 4 times the power. The math for latency is simple. Double the distance and you double the latency. The math for field of regard (how much of the earth the satellite can see) and field of view (how much is within the ability of the antennas to steer the beam) and the increased path length as you approach the horizon is not so simple and depends on the antenna steering on the ground, the antennas on the satellite, and their respective transmit power and geometry. The AST sats have much bigger antennas. I believe the new sats that will go up on Starship also have larger antennas.

It remains to be seen how this fleshes out. Right now, however, and for probably the next few years, Starlink has way more coverage and performance than anyone else. Some of the incumbent geosynchronous or medium orbit sat operators, Iridium, Hughes, etc. are in deep doo doo. Iridium already went bankrupt once.

Regards,

Mark

 

[jonblack]

All this tech stuff is fascinating