Working for PCMag, I spend my days testing the latest laptops, gadgets, and AI services. But I do it from a very rural area in Southeast Idaho, which puts me in a serious bind: I need the internet to do my job, but nobody local can deliver good service over a wire. That’s no exaggeration: Good internet providers just don’t exist in my neck of the woods. I could get DSL, but I’d have to put up with snail-like speeds and data caps—a non-starter for someone whose work demands constant, high-bandwidth online access. That leaves Starlink satellite internet as my only real option.
I signed up for Starlink in 2022, but I’m not just a customer: I’m a tester. In three years, I’ve spent more than $6,000 in monthly service fees and equipment costs, tried three different versions of the dish and router equipment, and retested speed and latency in a formal, repeatable fashion twice a year. Over this time, I’ve seen nothing short of a transformation for a product that has won multiple Editors’ Choice awards. Let me explain.
Starlink’s Hardware Evolution: From Dishy to Mini
I got started with Starlink via the Dishy 2, the original rectangular residential dish, also known as the Dish V2. This large mast-mounted dish features actuating motors to fine-tune its position for a proper view of the orbiting satellites. The Dishy 2 does all that fiddling automatically, changing the angle of the dish as part of the initial setup.
Starlink Dishy 2 from 2022 (Credit: Brian Westover)
Since then, the hardware has made big evolutionary leaps, making installation easier with each iteration. The biggest change was the transition to the Dish V4, a slimmer version of the rectangular design. This newer model gets svelte by ditching the actuator motors. Instead, it sports a removable kickstand with a modular interface for different mounting attachments.
Starlink Dish V4 from 2024 (Credit: Brian Westover)
In my case, that’s a pole mount. I already had a mounting mast for satellite TV on my roof, and the mount attaches to it easily. True, the setup got a little more involved: I had to adjust the dish’s direction myself. But the Starlink app makes those adjustments simple, guiding you through the process step by step. In all, it’s a heck of a lot easier than the convoluted angle and azimuth adjustments that a traditional satellite dish would require.
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The standard kit’s router has also gotten a big boost, upgrading from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6, which means better speeds for connecting devices locally and better Wi-Fi coverage overall. (Note, though, that those speed gains don’t do much for the Starlink internet itself, since the router’s electronics are capable of handling more bandwidth than Starlink can deliver.) The upgrade also brings more range, tri-band support, and expanded mesh capability.
Starlink Mini portable dish (Credit: Brian Westover)
Of the three different Starlink dishes I’ve tested, the easiest to install, by far, is the Starlink Mini. (Granted, I didn’t bother with a roof installation when I tested it because it was a temporary setup, and counter to the whole point of the Mini to begin with.) Built to be portable, the Mini delivers a smaller, lighter-weight design and a simpler cable setup. Check out our full Starlink Mini vs. Standard Starlink comparison to learn more about specific differences in size, weight, and power.
In addition to making DIY installation a lot easier, Starlink now offers a roof installation service to new customers for a $199 fee. That’s great news for people who aren’t comfortable climbing a ladder or using a power tool on their home, but DIY remains a viable option if you want to save some bucks.
Performance Over Time: Starlink’s Three-Year Transformation
My test results over three years are unmistakable: Download and upload speeds have gotten consistently faster, and latency has steadily dropped, with a lower ping and better responsiveness for real-time uses such as online gaming or video calls.
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Here’s how the performance has evolved over the years:
Year 1 (2022): Download speeds averaged 89Mbps. Uploads rarely went above 20Mbps. Latency hovered around 60 milliseconds (ms).
Year 2 (2023): Overall performance significantly improved. Download speeds climbed to 130Mbps on average, upload speeds increased to 15Mbps, and latency dropped to 50ms.
Year 3 (2024 – tested with Dishy 2): Download speeds consistently topped 100Mbps, averaging 113Mbps, with a maximum recorded speed of 265Mbps. Upload speeds averaged almost 19Mbps (approximately a 23% increase year over year). Latency dropped further to an impressive 38ms (a 24% decrease year over year). Consistency also improved, with more results falling within advertised ranges.
Year 3 (2024 – tested with Dish V4): Testing on the new hardware showed an even more dramatic leap. Mean download speeds jumped to 150Mbps, with top speeds climbing to 325Mbps. Upload speeds were the highest yet, at 23Mbps. Latency was the lowest ever, averaging 29ms.
Those results over time clearly show steady improvement, but Starlink isn’t done improving, delivering network enhancements and hardware improvements.
In our most recent tests, performed earlier this year with the Dish V4 residential dish, we saw even better speeds.
Top download speeds climbed to 315Mbps, the second-highest speed we’ve ever seen in our many, many tests. Where mean download speeds hovered close to 150Mbps in our previous round of testing the Dish V4, in this round we saw mean download speeds average 177Mbps but climb above 200Mbps for a few days. The lows in download speed stayed consistently above 50Mbps through most of our testing period, a drastic improvement since the early days, when low speeds dipped as far down as 5Mbps.
In testing the consistency of those speed results, we saw that the majority of our test results fell between 140Mbps and 200Mbps, with the most frequently seen speeds sitting around 170Mbps.
Upload speed improvements are even better, with results climbing as high as 64Mbps. Most results fell in the 10Mbps-to-40Mbps range, but I didn’t expect to see so much growth in the higher-speed uploads. This is the first year we’ve seen so much of the distribution reaching higher than 30Mbps.
Latency has also substantially improved. Where last year’s test on this same hardware showed most ping results in the range of 20ms to 30ms, this year we’re seeing a huge shift to the faster 10ms-to-20ms range.
Unlike in years past, when pings to Google’s 8.8.8.8 server showed slower responsiveness, this last round of testing has both Cloudflare and Google showing similar sub-30ms latency…
The improvement shows how good Starlink’s ground stations have gotten at removing bottlenecks caused by far-flung geography. Having more ground stations connecting to the internet means that Starlink users are more likely to get a local connection, rather than a distant one (sometimes even out of state), which can change the ping response.
The clearest comparison of all is when we look at performance over time…
Since my first Starlink tests in 2022, the average download speed has improved steadily, currently averaging almost double the speed I saw in my earliest tests.
Upload speeds are also better, marked by a 175% improvement over the speeds we saw in 2022, when Starlink was fairly new. And latency is the lowest it’s ever been, with a 62% decrease since our first tests. Not only have I been able to download larger files hiccup-free in less time, but I’ve also seen smoother streaming and gaming.
Starlink Service Disruptions: Few and Far Between
Overall reliability has also improved dramatically, though this is a little harder to quantify. When I was first using the service, sometimes there seemed to be moments of lag. Possibly, the dish lost contact with one satellite and had to reestablish communication with the next as it appeared overhead. Since then, SpaceX has launched many, many more Starlink satellites, expanding the constellation to more than 7,800.
With so many more in orbit, and with improving technology in those satellites, the inconsistency has pretty much disappeared. The service has offered the same high quality at all hours of the day, in addition to the steady improvement in raw performance we see in our test data. As for flat-out outages, I got hit with a couple in the first year or two of service, but I’ve seen nothing of the sort in a year and a half, at least.
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Starlink in the snow (Credit: Brian Westover)
I should note, however, that the weather can affect your Starlink service. I live in an area that frequently gets high winds, and during the winter, we can face deep snow and even blizzards. You will see some reduction in service quality during heavy storms with rain or snow. However, even during rough weather, I’ve been very impressed with how few interruptions we have seen.
Then there’s resistance to wind. The Dish V4 has a sleeker, thinner profile, which lets it handle higher wind speeds; where the Dishy 2 is rated for 50mph winds, the Dish V4 is rated for 60mph. V4 also has better weatherproofing. Given the weather in my area, that durability has been a comfort.
The Starlink User Experience: A Seamless Connection
As I’ve said, my daily internet usage has been fairly consistent over the last few years. At work, I use the internet all day long, combining browsing on more than one machine, video calls for work, streaming media in the background, and frequently downloading large software packages for testing products. My family is usually online, as well.
And over time, my Starlink connection has gotten faster and more consistent. My kids have increased their internet usage over the last three years; we have accumulated more devices in the home, and the kids have begun to enjoy streaming media and some online games. (With strict limits on screen time, and rules about what they can watch.) Even with the boost in usage, we have had very few service issues. The only real downtime we experienced in the past year and a half was due to a storm. We consistently stream 4K video without buffering, even with multiple devices active.
Starlink Dishy 2 and Dish V4 compared (Credit: Brian Westover)
On the software side, the Starlink app has also gotten some very welcome upgrades: easier navigation and customer-service options that are a bit more accessible. The app provides valuable real-time statistics, a helpful obstruction viewer, and troubleshooting tools that empower the user.
Installation and setup are also easier now than when I first got my dish in 2022. The process is still largely the same, but the steps walking you through that process are clearer and seem to go faster. Still, that might just be me: After installing three different dishes, I’ve gotten pretty familiar with the process.
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Starlink Dishy 2 installation kit in the box (Credit: Brian Westover)
My one major gripe? Customer service. While Starlink has dabbled in offering an actual customer service hotline, the primary channel for all customer communication remains the Starlink app and its support-ticket system. Yes, it’s a little easier now to access the customer service portal and respond to messages. But it’s still frustrating not to be able to use regular email, on-site chat, or anything like a hotline to reach a live representative. Complex issues take a lot longer to resolve if you’re relying on asynchronous messaging.
On the other hand, network performance and reliability have gotten so good that I have little to no need to reach out to customer service. This is “set it and forget it” internet. Unlike the cable internet that I’ve had in the past, which required resetting a router at times or calling a service tech to come out to the house, I’ve had very few issues with Starlink that required any sort of customer service interaction. Its reliability goes a long way toward easing the frustration of its limited support channels.
Starlink’s Value Proposition and Competitors: Nothing Else Like It
Starlink is built for people who don’t have any other great options in their area. So, if you do have access to cable or fiber service, take it almost every time. Terrestrial coverage is typically much cheaper on a month-to-month basis, often $60 to $80 for a 500Mbps cable plan. And you’ll get better performance overall, thanks to the higher—often gigabit or above—speeds that a fixed internet service provider can provide. Not even on its best day can Starlink offer gigabit speeds. (But it might, one day.)
Starlink Dish V4 on the roof (Credit: Brian Westover)
But if you’re in an area that makes Starlink a viable option, it stops looking quite so expensive. Any of the other choices—whether DSL or a competing satellite internet provider like HughesNet or Viasat—won’t offer the same level of performance. Those services are plagued with dramatically lower bandwidth, arcane limitations around data and time of day, and horrible overage charges. In those cases, I always recommend Starlink over the competition. Rival satellite internet providers cannot yet offer a level of service and capability to match Starlink’s.
The monthly price, though a little high at $120 (for the standard Residential service), is worthwhile for me. It may not be for everyone, and if you live in an area without internet, you’ve probably learned to live without it. But if you want genuine high-speed connectivity, and it’s the only thing available to you, that $120 a month seems mighty reasonable. Starlink has seen price increases since I started ($99 to $110, then to $120), but it’s held stable at $120 in my area since April of 2023.
Starlink Dish V4 installation kit (Credit: Brian Westover)
Starlink offers a new $80 Residential Lite plan if you’re willing to sacrifice some speed in the name of lowering your monthly bill. This discounted plan still has no data caps, but download speeds are reduced to a 50Mbps-to-100Mbps range, with your service deprioritized (meaning you’ll see lower speeds at times) during peak usage hours.
I’m also impressed that you can sign up for Starlink without a contract. Competing services rely heavily on two-year agreements and draconian early termination fees to make money while offering a less-capable service. Starlink, on the other hand, offers best-in-class service and does so with no contract. You pay for a month, you get a month. If you ever need to stop the service—perhaps you’re using Starlink at a home you only live in part of the year, or during the summer traveling season—it’s as easy as pausing service in the app with just a couple of button clicks. No muss. No fuss. No fees.
The only downside to this no-contract approach is that pricing can change without warning. So far, the changes have been fairly reasonable. However, some parts of the country are saturated with users, and with greater demand comes slower service. To ease the problem, Starlink has replaced waitlists with very hefty service fees, designed to discourage new users the company can’t adequately service. For instance, recent reports indicate surcharges as high as $750 on top of the standard equipment cost in certain high-demand areas like Seattle, and even $1,000 in other cities in the Pacific Northwest. Other areas have seen $100, $250, or $500 surcharges.
So, there are clearly instances where Starlink isn’t the best choice, and there are clearly places where Starlink is drastically less affordable. But outside of those exceptions, Starlink still stands as the best value in satellite internet, by a long shot.
Starlink’s Future Is Bright and Speedy
Starlink itself is only five years old as a service. I’ve been using it for two-thirds of that time, and I have seen nothing but improvements: better service, more robust support infrastructure, and significantly better designs of the actual dish and router. All of this while the number of Starlink users has skyrocketed.
No matter what you think of Elon Musk, SpaceX has continued to be a unique company. It continually advances its capabilities in reusable spacecraft, puts more and more capable satellite technology into orbit, and improves the earthbound infrastructure. The entire experience has gotten cleaner and smoother.
Based on all my testing, Starlink has even more progress on the way. We will likely see continued improvements to download and upload speeds, increasingly faster communication with lower latency, and expanding capabilities to meet the demands of a fast-growing user base.
But space is going to get a lot more crowded with rivals down the road, hungry for Starlink-style success. Amazon is working on a rival satellite network, Project Kuiper, which has just begun to deploy its operational satellites, aiming for a start of service later this year. This new contender could very well pose a threat to Starlink’s dominance in a way that legacy satellite internet providers haven’t been able to do. (And when Amazon’s network comes around, we’ll certainly test it, too.)
For the time being, Starlink is a singular solution for fast, reliable internet to areas previously unserved and left behind in our modern connected age. SpaceX delivers a great service and does it for a reasonable price.
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About Brian Westover
Lead Analyst, Hardware
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