Starlink Mini Dish Release Appears to Be Imminent as New Images Surface – CNET [CNET]

According to Elon Musk, the new dish will take five minutes to set up and can be carried in a backpack.

Starlink is one step closer to launching the Starlink Mini dish. SpaceX updated its app over the weekend and with the update came some official images of the dish itself, which will start rolling out to select areas as soon as next month.  Starlink dishes provide satellite-based internet connectivity, often to underserved areas.

The new images were posted to X by Ukrainian engineer Oleg Kutkov, along with some internal imagers from the Mini’s recent FCC certification. According to that FCC certification, the Starlink Mini also houses a built-in router that will support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz along with 802.11ax and 3×3 MIMO. There is also an ethernet port for those who want to connect directly.

Elon Musk responded to Kutkov’s tweet stating that he had “just set (the dish) up right now” and that it took him about five minutes. Musk also said that the dish could be easily carried in a backpack.

 In a follow-up tweet, the X CEO posted a screenshot showing 100 Mbps download speeds, 11.5 Mbps upload speeds, and latency of 23ms. 

That means that the Starlink Mini will likely pull slower speeds than its full-sized stablemate. However, 100 Mbps is more than enough for multiple 4K video streams, video calls, voice chats, and file downloads. Online gaming might even be possible if the latency is consistent. 

Starlink Mini dish is a smaller version of the standard dish

According to the FCC certification, the Starlink Mini measures 11.4 inches by 9.8 inches. For reference, the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro is 11.97 inches by 8.36 inches. That means Musk was right when he said that the Starlink Mini could fit in a backpack. The kickstand on the Mini also comes on the regular dish, although the regular dish is meant for roof mounting whereas the Mini seems intended for travel use. 

According to Musk, the Starlink Mini will cost about half of what the full-sized version does. The full version retails for $499, although new subscribers can get it at a discounted rate of $299. That should put the Mini in the ballpark of $249 retail and $149 for new customers. That makes it much more palatable for folks looking to spend less who may not need anything faster than 100 Mbps. 

CNET tested out Starlink’s Internet service when it launched and found it to be a pretty decent option, especially in areas where there are few other options like rural America. 

The Starlink Mini seems to lean into that identity by making it easy to mount the dish on campers and RVs, carry it in backpacks, and generally bring it anywhere else where you’d like the Internet that normally doesn’t have it.