The new dish is also rectangular but is installed with an
attachable kickstand rather than a cylindrical pipe stem slotted into a large
four-leg base.
It uses software-assisted manual positioning rather than
motorised automatic orientation to align itself to communicate with Starlink’s
satellite fleet.
The current Standard Actuated dish boasts motors that can
change the dish’s orientation automatically based on a scan of the sky.
However, in MyBroadband’s tests of the antenna, it only does
this once — at initial setup.
By eliminating the motors from the hardware and asking users
to manually change the orientation based on sky scans, SpaceX cuts down on
complexity and parts costs, potentially paving the way for cheaper units.
The other improvements with the new kit include its
110-degree field of view, likely due to being about 8cm longer than the
Standard Actuated dish.
However, the kickstand measures 142mm, and the thickness of
the kit is 39.7mm — for a combined length of 181.7mm.
That means the new Starlink kit will occupy much less
vertical space, as the old base design put its top surface 343mm above the
ground.
The fixed Standard dish also gets an IP67 Type 4 protection
rating as opposed to the IP54 of the previous model.
In addition to being more dust-resistant, it has a higher
waterproof resistance and boasts a rated wind speed tolerance of 96km/h.
The new kit Is slightly more power-hungry than the previous
unit, which will be important to travellers using mobile power stations or
generators to provide juice to their Starlink.
It consumes 75–100W of power during normal operation,
compared to 50-75W with the previous unit.
The table below compares the specifications of the old and
new Starlink kit for residential users.
| Standard (new) | Standard Actuated (old) | |
| Antenna | Electronic Phased Array | Electronic Phased Array |
| Field of view | 110° | 100° |
| Orientation technique | Software-assisted manual orienting | Motorised self-orienting |
| Environmental protection rating | IP67 Type 4 | IP54 |
| Operating temperatures | -30°C to 50°C | -30°C to 50°C |
| Maximum wind speed | 96km/h+ | Unknown |
| Snow Melt Capability | Up to 40mm per hour | Up to 40mm per hour |
| Power consumption | 75-100W | 50-75W |
| Dimensions | 594 x 383 x 39.7mm (+142mm with kickstand extended) | 513 x 383 x 343mm (with stand) |
| Weight | 2.9kg (3.2kg with kickstand) | 2.9kg (3.6kg with four-legged base) |
 |
| New Starlink residential dish (left) versus old Standard Actuated residential dish (right) |
The kit comes with a new “Gen 3” Wi-Fi router with some significant upgrades, including a bump up from the Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6 standard, improving wireless connectivity speeds.
In addition, the radio antenna configuration has been
upgraded from dual-band 3×3 MIMO to tri-band 4×4 MIMO. This helps improve
connectivity capacity to 235 devices.
Those who prefer to plug into the router for the best
possible speeds will no longer have to buy an additional Ethernet adapter, as
the router now features two Ethernet LAN ports.
Starlink has also done away with the proprietary port used
to connect the cable to the dish — using a standard RJ45 connector instead.
 |
| Back of new Starlink router. The two new Ethernet ports are located under a removable grey cover between the connectivity and power ports. |
Tech-savvy Starlink users have previously modified the connectivity cable to work with different routers than the one Starlink ships as part of its kit.
The change also makes sense if Starlink wants to avoid
possible right-to-repair issues, as those less technically inclined users would
have to order replacement cables directly from the company rather than being
able to get one from a PC component shop.
Starlink currently only offers the new dish to a small group
of early customers in the US. These customers are being notified of
availability through special invites.
It is unclear when the company plans to roll out the dish to
other areas or what it will cost.
The table below summarises the differences between the new and old Starlink routers.
| Starlink Gen 3 router (new) | Starlink Gen 2 router (old) | |
| Orientation | Horizontal | Vertical |
| Wi-Fi generation | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 5 |
| Radio | Tri-band 4×4 MIMO | Dual-band 3×3 MIMO |
| Maximum number of devices | 235 | 128 |
| Ethernet ports | 2x latching Ethernet LAN ports | None (requires adapter) |
| Environmental protection rating | IP56 | IP54 |
| Indicator LEDs | Bottom front corner | Underneath router |
| Dimensions | 120 x 299 x 43mm | 254 x 180 x 65mm |
 |
| New Starlink dish with kickstand and Gen 3 Wi-Fi router, alongisde new data cable, power brick, and power adapter. |
 |
| New Starlink router front |