I ran some hands-on testing with my new Starlink Mini today using three devices: an iPhone 15 Pro Max, a Samsung tablet, and a Samsung laptop. Here's what I found. The dish is unobstructed and perfectly aligned. At the dish, I was pulling 240 Mbps down and signal strength as strong as -32 dBm, excellent performance right out of the gate.
As you move away Signal attenuation becomes significant quickly with distance:
At -68 dBm indoors at 35 feet, not one of the three devices could complete a speed test on Ookla, Xfinity, or Google. The iPhone managed 4 Mbps down, the best result of the bunch. At -75 to -81 dBm, connections to test servers failed entirely. To be fair, I'm testing in a residence, not an RV, so attenuation characteristics will differ somewhat, but not dramatically. I know many users here have reported no issues, and that's valid. Close-range outdoor performance is genuinely impressive.
The Mini's built-in Wi-Fi has real range limitations. A dedicated router should solve it. I'll be testing with the Starlink Gen 3 router next and will report back with those results. We know the results are going to be good with those download speeds at the dish an a wired connection to the router...wont be anything exciting other than signal loss will be just about nothing and download speeds will be around 200
This could be useless to a lot of owners who just stream music or video. But for those of us who work from our rigs, this matters.
As you move away Signal attenuation becomes significant quickly with distance:
| Location | Signal (dBm) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Next to dish | -32 | 240 Mbps down |
| 32 ft away, outdoors | -68 | Degraded speeds |
| Behind closed patio door ~35 feet | -75 to -81 | Near unusable |
At -68 dBm indoors at 35 feet, not one of the three devices could complete a speed test on Ookla, Xfinity, or Google. The iPhone managed 4 Mbps down, the best result of the bunch. At -75 to -81 dBm, connections to test servers failed entirely. To be fair, I'm testing in a residence, not an RV, so attenuation characteristics will differ somewhat, but not dramatically. I know many users here have reported no issues, and that's valid. Close-range outdoor performance is genuinely impressive.
The Mini's built-in Wi-Fi has real range limitations. A dedicated router should solve it. I'll be testing with the Starlink Gen 3 router next and will report back with those results. We know the results are going to be good with those download speeds at the dish an a wired connection to the router...wont be anything exciting other than signal loss will be just about nothing and download speeds will be around 200
This could be useless to a lot of owners who just stream music or video. But for those of us who work from our rigs, this matters.
