The long wait paid off. Chris, otherwise known as Dirty Tesla, was one of the first to receive the new rectangular dish antenna in his Starlink kit. So, naturally, he put it to the test.
SpaceX’s original satellite dish was round. However, this next-generation dish is a rectangle, but still goes by the name Dishy McFlatface.
Chris calls a rural region in Michigan home and pre-ordered Starlink back in February of 2021. The next-generation square hardware is the same price as the previous generation and costs $499 USD with the $99 per month internet subscription fee ($649 CAD and $119 CAD).
Chris conducted speed tests comparing his previous ISP and Starlink. He was previously with AT&T.
AT&T offered speeds for download of 14.6 Mbps and an upload speed of 6.28 Mbps with a latency of 46ms. In comparison, Starlink offered download speeds of 244 Mbps, upload 5.44 Mbps and latency of 37ms.
One of the biggest bonuses for Chris was how easy the Starlink service was to set up. In his video, which includes an unboxing, he noted that Starlink only required him to log in to the Starlink site, download the app, and plug the dish into an electrical outlet.
After that, he had internet. The antenna automatically orients itself to find the optimal view of the sky to communicate with SpaceX Low Earth Orbit satellites.
You can check out his entire test below.
