Today we do a complete teardown of a Starlink Ethernet Adapter (Dongle) to uncover what is causing these units to fail. A friend of the show sent in their dongle for us to crack open to try and find its vulnerabilities. From teatime to power tools, today's show will be a fun one! This is the small but powerful battery backup I'm using: amzn.to/3tEqQCp 💎 I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment area below! If you find this information of value, please consider supporting the channel by clicking the THANK YOU button or by becoming a member. For more Starlink coverage subscribe and watch my entire PlayList at: th-cam.com/play/PLUrdf7hvHC2KXLQg3HIi8keQOIdxcheS7.html Here's the list of products I'm using with my Starlink setup: - tp-link AC Router - amzn.to/3so07J1 - tp-link AX Router - amzn.to/3sf2or8 - tp-link Managed Switch: amzn.to/3EQJKZy - tp-link Unmanaged Switch: amzn.to/3FVbaih - tp-link Outdoor Access Point - amzn.to/3uqDYfP - tp-link Indoor Access Point - amzn.to/3rV6Nzk - tp-link Control Module (100Mbps) - amzn.to/3Lduaf3 - tp-link Control Module (Gigabit) - amzn.to/3rVBqEx 💎 I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment area below! If you would like to get a FREE copy of the Prologue to "How To Create A Digital Fort Knox - Backing Up Your Digital Life" or one of my other FREE books, simply visit jcristina.com/books Consider subscribing to the channel, commenting below, and signing up for my newsletter at jcristina.com/join Interested in any products that I personally use? Visit www.amazon.com/shop/jcristina or go to the bottom of this description for direct links. [ Channel Membership ] TH-cam has recently made Memberships available to this channel. The great thing about this is that I can now provide perks for becoming a channel member as a way of giving back and saying thank you! Simply click the JOIN button under any of my hundreds of videos. If you enjoy my content and are thinking about contributing to the channel by becoming a member, I thank you in advance for your generosity. Rest assured, I will continue to make quality unbiased content and build this amazing community of fellow creatives. For business relations please contact me at jcristina.com/contact Follow me on Instagram @josephcristina for extra behind-the-scenes content and if you found value in this video, please take a moment to Thumbs-Up, Subscribe, Turn-On Notifications, and most importantly Tell A Friend about the channel. If you haven't, download my 🆓 FREE ebook over at jcristina.com/ebook please check it out. There is something there for Amateur right up to professional photographers. Join our Creative Discord community at 📰 community.jcristina.com Subscribe and use promo code YT20 at checkout and receive 📦 20% off everything in your cart at jcristina.com [ Media Contact Business Relations ] 📧 eMail - jcristina.com/contact [ Free Giveaways & Promos ] 📦 20% Off everything jcristina.com - Subscribe & use Promo Code YT20 🆓 FREE eBook jcristina.com/ebook - 10 Tips To Making Tack Sharp Images [ Tea I Drink ] 🌒 Dark MoonTeas DarkMoonTeas.com [ Social Media & Additional Conections ] 🎬 TH-cam - th-cam.com/users/jcristina 🔖 Twitter - twitter.com/JosephCristina 👀 Instagram - instagram.com/JosephCristina 👨💼 LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/josephcristina 📖 Facebook - facebook.com/joseph.cristina 📰 Creative Discord Server - community.jcristina.com
I have an interesting story about my Starlink router. I started a support ticket because my router is broadcasting an SSID called "SP Red Test Only". It has been since I got it, and I can't enter it. I started the support ticket because this is a security vulnerability, as I have no idea how secure the password for that SSID is. Well, they blew me off with some canned non-response. I responded back that if they were not going to address the issue, I'd use my Wifi Pineapple to capture the "handshake" that the SSID is putting out and then use a program like Hashcat to gain access to that network. Well, that got them moving. I got a call from Starlink within just a minute or two of sending that message (at 8:30pm). They are sending me a new router, and he said to not gain access to that network or my service would likely be shut off. I also learned during this exchange that WPA3 is no longer working (which I suspected because the slider is no longer in the app). He said they are working on it and hope to get it working again. No time frame was given. Thought you might find that interesting!
I assume that "SP Red Test Only" is a diagnostic network to enter the CLI, and it's never meant to ship to customers with that enabled. It's probably safe to assume Starlink does not want the general public to enter their proprietary software. If anyone has any more info on this, I'd love to hear it!
FYI, I use a small hammer and give few good hits on the seam, that usually breaks the glue bond enough to start the prying. Not as fun as a Dremel, but a lot less messy and a lot faster!
Good conclusion... I'd expect his environment was high humidity during the storms. Oh, and those chassis pieces weren't glued. They are clamped in a fixture and acoustically welded... ultrasonic plastic welding of thermoplastics. Inducers vibrate the prescribed plastic at 30 to 70 Khz and the mating surfaces melt due to friction. Often times, one or both halves are molded with a sharp pointed ridge that focuses the ultrasonic energy to that point for maximum adhesion (melt).
I just ordered Starlink today and I watched your video - Things I Wish I Knew Before Ordering Starlink. So I purchased items you recommended. Now I see this video and took your advice on the battery surge protector which I also ordered. Thanks so much you've saved me a bunch of headaches ahead of time. So hopefully I won't have any problems with my "dongle." 😂😂😂
As someone who has responsibility for network infrastructure, lightning is no joke. We had a site in an old building on a military base that had chronic problems where storm activity affected a long cable run. Due to it's length, the cable acted as an antenna and soaked up static energy put into the air from lightning, which could and often did kill the ethernet port and possibly the entire router that it was connected to. No direct strike was even needed for the damage to happen, and the route was interior to all of the lightning protection we had applied from external directions. On top of all that, we learned that the building was not even grounded properly for electrical in the first place. That would never be allowed in the civilian world, but the military can apparently do or not do as it pleases with its old buildings. Thankfully we were finally able to move from that building to a better one.
Dongles started as security devices. They were plugged into serial ports. Certain software packages came with a dongle and if it was not installed the software would not run as a protection against software piracy. I first ran into them using AutoCAD a VERY long time ago. We're talking XT/AT/IBM Compatible days.
I hope you’re right about Starlink maybe offering a longer cable,in the future. I requested a longer cable because of obstructions at my location. They basically punched my ticket and told me they couldn’t help,and of course if I tried to replace the cable with another, my warranty would be voided. I thanked them for punching my ticket, bought a 200’ length of cat 5e cable, took the ends off my old 75 ft. cable, used rj45 ends and waterproof female to female connectors for splices and moved the dish to where it is unobstructed. When I plugged it up it would boot repeatedly. Troubleshooting revealed a defective waterproof connector. After replacing it, the system has worked without issue for over a month. I, like you, believe that they are erring on the side of caution with length, but it still frosts me that their customer service people know much less about the system than I do and are limited to reading their script. As a person who has never had access to high speed internet at my home until Starlink, I am extremely pleased, even with the startup hiccups, the throttling that I am convinced is occurring, and the lack of customer support. I hope all these are corrected sooner rather than later, but until someone decides that this area of the country will be profitable for them to install fiber, I will smile and continue to pay Elon for Starlink. Thanks so much for your videos. I learn each time I watch one.
I am an old dummy (72 years old) that is thinking about buying starlink kit to take to Quartzsite next year. Right now I uses a cell phone MOFI 4500 with 2 SIM card option ( I have a AT&T unlimited plus plane) And a cell booster antenna. I had someone set this up for me. It’s all greek to me. I like to boondock and have all the gadgets from home in my 4x4 motorhome.
Yes!! We the Donglefied declare that Starlink derives its power not from a king or a Congress, but from the Donglefied themselves. We demand dongles that can withstand nature's wrath!
Another option could be that a surge came thru his Ethernet cable and burnt some of components on the PCB board. On the circuit board one wire is marked GND. The router has a three prong plug so the whole Starlink is grounded. Maybe a shielded Ethernet cable would help. I have the Starlink router in an outside metal shack and have a 100 ft shielded Ethernet cable on the ground to the house. We have great thunderstorms and it is still working.
Great video, that pointed me in the right direction, but you got 1 thing slightly wrong. The length of cable the runs from the dongle, to the router actually contains 2 CAT6 cables, 1 with thicker, stranded cables, these are the ones wrapped in black heat shrink, with half connected to 1 side of the board and half to the other, is for the data from the dish to the router You can literally trace them from the back of the input to the cable.. The other set, with the really thin cables is the return data, from the router to the Ethernet port, again with half on 1 side of the board and half on the other solid core, but with really thin sheaths. This thin set does pass through the capacitors, resistors and onboard chipset, whereas the thicker cables pass straight through, without touching said components. Both sets of cables pass through a pinch point, designed to keep the cable from coming out, but with nothing to really stop the wires from moving and being pinched during manufacture. I can also confirm that the V1.1 batch was in production for over 8 months, with yours produced 02/22, and the one I just pulled apart produced in 10/22. I've started using a SPX to Ethernet adapter, with a POE injector, allowing me to do away with the Starlink dongle and router.
thanks for the video, just one point: ethernet magnetics are primarily for isolation, not EMI. shielding is for EMI. ethernet was designed to run long distances, it can't reference the same "ground" if they're crossing buildings. the signal needs to be isolated from building A's reference through a transformer (magnetics) which it can then be referenced to building B's ground through another isolation transformer. a secondary advantage is that transformers offer common mode rejection, which does make it more immune to noise from other EMI sources.
For me, a UPS is, smart money, while a simple surge protector will help with a lighting strike. The UPS will keep the system running without any HARD reboots whenever there is a brownout or power fluctuation. 👍
@12:37 both sides look clean, yes, but that rj45 socket is isolated from everything, no tracks, this means its a double layer pcb, or to make more sense, three layers, top, bottom, and the middle tracks you can not see - which begs the question, what other tracks can we not see. the dish-router path may be clean because that side uses drain wires, probably linked to MOVs in the router, because I dont see any circuitry either side that is used in suppression techniques. Nice video btw :)
This is how Wikipedia defines a dongle: "A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality." There that should settle it once and for all !!! The biggest reason why they keep dyeing is printed right on them in very tiny print: " Made In China"
As I understand it, the problem went away once the router was replaced. Assuming the problem was in the router...a real common manufacturing defect I see is metal connectors (i.e. USB-C) with bodies not properly soldered down. If that was what happened on his router, then it would be no surprise if components in the dongle fail. One possible effect would be the magnetics would be subject to overvoltage and fail open, which would imply one or more pairs would fail a continuity test (orange to white-orange, etc).
Hi there from Beaverton Ontario. I have a square Stinky McDish Face dish. Thank you so much for this video. This exact thing happened to me after a thunder storm. I was pulling out my hair and eyelashes…. Because I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I thought it was my google mesh router, and then I ordered a 2nd “dongle” and It still isn’t working. There is something definitely wrong with this adapter. I haven’t contacted Starlink yet, but I guess I better. Hoping they will send me something that works. Thanks again, I learned a lot!
The connector may be a problem, but a component failure is more likely. Static failure does not always show up as visual destruction. I have seen many I/C and other component failures over 50+ years of component failures that demonstrated no visible destruction. Based on the dongle example provides the hg2439 I/C power converter is probably good, but the other I/C and components could be bad with no visible damage. I don't recall a connector going bad from static in all my years of dealing with electronic stuff. Pins do get deformed from abuse or poor mfg. process. Static from lightning does not always mean a direct hit which in this case would demonstrate considerable visible damage. The static charge surrounding lightning could damage I/C and other components without visible damage. That static is like your heir standing on ends before a lightning strike. That static would damage electronic stuff, but it is not powerful enough to cause physical damage. To help eliminate that type of static requires a proper grounding scheme of equipment.
"his dongle going dead" ... yeah, at my age, i need maybe to send mine in too? i am sure my misses would ask if its able to be fixed.. hahahahah great video as usual! u da man! Waldo County - last night - recorded highest test of 160 download !!!!!!! and 19 up !!! best ever! cheers from the woods of Maine !
some of my tickets got sent off to the head tech support because I had mentioned to them some ideas to try out from techs online i was talking with. Starlink may need to come out with a whole new modem it is hard to say right now what they will decide to do in the future, in Europe, Starlink is workin fantastic I hear. but now in west USA they are starting to have the same problems as the rest of us with the upload instability... hey starlink is still great. i'm still able to watch 4k videos and upload to youtube... this is just for us who want to stream games mostly. thanks for another video, this was neat information
@@jcristinajust found a really bad glitch in their app. I changed my spit back and the entire app glitched and said it disconnected the whole system for a sec, then it took me to the Stow page... now the page where the split option was located is no longer in my app. It takes 3 to 4 days to get a reply from them. great. My parents are going to be mad
Standard electronic engineering : the antenna cable should have direct lightning ground connectors, going to a proper ground rod/system. The cable is picking up a charge from the static, and can be expected to bring high voltage indoors unless physically grounded and preferably disconnected, outside. OUTSIDE the building, not inside on the dongle.
FWIW, chances are that at least one lot of Ethernet I/F devices does not have enough ESD protection. Often damaged devices will kinda work. Theo my way to determine if that’s a problem is to put it in an SEM to look at the stack. Lightning storms can increase the potential which has to go somewhere. Looking at the circuit board in the video, it doesn’t look like there is a robust snubber circuit. On the other hand, hefty snubbers would be in conflict with high frequency signals. For most installations, the likelihood of a big ESD event is pretty small. There are a ton of physical installation decisions that can make the systems more likely to suffer damage. Moving the cable in the socket could cause a number of situations. NEC code compliance is validated by third party test facilities. “Certification” has to be judged by the exact test process employed.
15:40 That's exactly how mine acted, both of them. Granted we've had thunderstorms every weekend from may till first of July. Really weird both my adapters are 100mb, and occasionally just wouldn't connect for hours then would pop back online.
Finally got my warranty starlink to work. Went to hook the ethernet adapter in the circuit, and of course my luck it has 100% ping loss through the adapter. Remove the dongle from the circuit, everything works fine. Created a ticket, they are sending me a replacement dongle. I wonder if they have a warehouse of 'probably don't work' pieces they mail first. Then if someone complains the ship a 'good one' from a different warehouse... dunno.
This issue could be related to a faulty RJ45 having the pins curve the opposite way than what they should. This issue I have only seen myself in the Ubiquiti UBNT AF5X point-to-point 5Ghz radios which have an issue with both their ethernet ports, all socket RJ45 golden pins normally have a slight concave shape so that it sits nicely contacting the RJ45 male plug gold contacts, but in the AF5X AirFiber5X they are bent 180 degrees the wrong way therefore the only place of contact is on the end of the male plug which subsequently wears off the gold and causes bad contact and therefore flapping of the interface. Typically takes about 4 to 6 months to manifest a flapping issue and can be caused by the wind slightly moving the cable and its plug. By disabling the Mikrotik ethernet port connected to the AF5X and re-enabling it will create enough of a voltage jump across the contacts to allow ethernet link up again or maybe to go from 100Mb to 1000Mb, but this is only temporary for a day or week. Best option is to solder in a new ethernet socket port or option B is to bend the pins using a pair of mini pliers but here one needs far too much patients for. The new version AF5XHD is correctly designed with the concave pins in the correct direction. Cheers Daniel Beckmann WISP Netherlands friesedraad.nl
I install Starlink systems. I do not use Starlink at home. Two big questions I have are: WHY did Starlink reduce the dish cable to 50 feet from 100 feet (Gen.1), and, WHY did they remove the Ethernet port from the Gen.2 Modem??? Gen.1 has a built-in ethernet port on the Modem.
@@jeffpizzi4385 It did not come with a piece of paper folded a few time? It was titled "Regulatory Notices" in 30 languages. That is not where the specifications is printed. The instruction manual was a big cardboard with pictures.
This has happened to me too after a big storm hit us. I had to replace the router too. I replaced the dongle first but it still wasn't working so maybe it was both router and dongle
Starlink had to do an ethernet dongle to have a high water proof rating on the main wifi unit, that's why it can be used for outside use and it says if you add the ethernet dongle to it, it's for indoor use only.
@@jrr851 not much cost cutting, they built a 2 port ethernet switch in the wifi box. all the ethernet dongle does is add 8 more wires to bring out that 2nd ethernet port for use.
@@jcristina I have solved the problem by inserting a Peplink between the Starlink router and my ubiquity dream machine. I am sure Starlink will address this eventually, I have trouble complaining about Starlink as I now have high speed internet in the middle of a forest!
I wanted you to know, my teenage son and me, are gonna do the step by step mesh system you did in a video- ( we downloaded your video and have gone over it for prep and planning ) we are gamma attempt to get our signal in the barn.. something never done ..we are waiting for amazon to deliver, the switch and then we should be ready. we picked the items from your mesh amazon suggestions. we will keep you posted on our success, if you would like h
If you start using IP based security cams you can place a camera in the barn then view and record the footage anywhere on the network. An IP based camera doesn't actually need a recorder device. So if you don't want/need recording you can have cams all over and just connect to them to view...it's pretty awesome once you start to understand the networking stuff it opens all kinds of possibilities. I use 2 security cams and an old router on my enclosed trailer. One mounted in the rear to see behind, the other inside to watch my load. Cost me about $40 for the 2 cams. I had everything else on hand.
I won't be going live with SL for another few weeks. Does SL mention any lighting surge protection suggestions or options in their installation instructions? Of course, I'll use a UPS, but that won't protect a surge coming in over the ethernet. Is there any grounding for the dish?
At a minimum, I recommend that users install a ground from their chosen mount to either an existing ground (e.g. grounded gas meter or plumbing) or install a grounding rod (driven into the Ground). At the very minimum, this will provide static discharge. Maybe the plastic housing in the dish doesn't draw lightning as I'd expect with the metal inside.
Great video, have you noticed the new style speed test on the app? And the new info box on the speed test excusing the slow speeds at peak usage times along with the super slow speeds at these times? Mine now dropping below 20Mb at peak times..... Oversubscribed for satellite numbers possibly?
Great video. Thankfully the dongle has been solid on my v2 kit (received in April of 2022). However, a buddy has had the exact issues you describe (SL just RMA'd his entire kit after a second bad dongle), save he didn't have the thunderstorm variable. Anyhow, thanks for sharing. Did you attempt to fix the bad dongle?
I have the same issue. My ethernet adapter suddenly stopped working and I received a replacement yesterday but that also doesn't works. Now Starlink ships me a new power cable because they thinks that might be the issue...I really hope they are right.
You can test the dongle from a PC/MAC/Linux machine on ethernet by running a continuous ping to dishy. "ping 192 dot 168 dot 100 dot 1 -t" no quotes, and then go shake the wire/dongle around and see if you dropped packets. On a PC crtrl C to end it and get the results. There should be no drops and a speed of 1ms.
Is the dish itself properly grounded? if it were a static charge buildup from The Storm it could have traveled from the dish through the cable into the ethernet dongle. And just because the component doesn't look burnt it doesn't mean that it couldn't have been zapped by a static charge. In your case though it looked like the ethernet Jack itself might have been bad sometimes those pins don't make full contact and with the rush to get them out I'm sure quality control suffered.
@@jcristina Oh Yeah…. I just needed to think of up a comment which used the word UNdonglification, or REdongleized or OVER-Deaddongled (mean you received over and over again bad electronic dongles, none of which worked, so you ended up in an extreme frustrated mental state of over-stress called DeadDongleitus.
I've been kinda ignoring Starlink till recently when they announced that they were dropping the price of the equipment and the monthly service fee in Mexico to be more on par with other providers down there. My family is from a pretty rural town in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the only option for internet is thru cellular service, and that's very spotty depending on where your house is at. No one has landline phone service (DSL) or Cable modem. Cellular service is also very expensive on top of not being so fast, it's capped at certain amounts. For a while, Starlink was close to $1000 for the equipment, and around $110 a month for service, but they recently cut the price down to around $420 for the equipment and $55 a month for service, so I will be ordering Starlink as soon as I figure out how to do so, since you need a Mexican address (got that) and I'm guessing a credit card or debit card with a Mexican bank. My parents are the ones that are there more often, traveling several times a year. Myself and my siblings, maybe once a year, but it's gonna be nice finally having actual internet whenever we visit.
@@jcristina thank you. We’ve been having nothing but trouble with our starlink since we received it in January. I’d say it’s been down more than it’s been up. Complained and they sent a new router and cable twice which worked sporadically. Now they sent a new system that won’t work at all. We’re at our wits end!
I’ve had Starlink since March and haven’t been getting the speeds I hoped for necessarily. I’m in the rural east Texas area, and according to the coverage map on Starlink’s website the service is “coming soon”. If that’s the case why did I get my equipment and it’s working (although not as well as I hoped)?
Great breakdown. The issue I'm having (still 1-2mbps) is that I'm running in pass-thru mode, so my Wifi is ultimately thru the RJ45 ethernet jack as well. My unifi Dream Machine pro is the one that's handing out DHCP addresses and controlling the access points around the house. Sent a request to starlink 2 weeks ago, still no answer back from them. Their help article wants me to disconnect my router, switches and AP, create a separate network and send screen shots from there. Sigh. At this point I think it would be much easier to just spend the $25 on a new dongle and hope they send a good one.
Thank you. I will look into that. As for the edit. I could have cut to another view but sometime it’s just fun to basic fix stuff. Volts, AMPS, Watts. All the same. Lmfao.
I don't know c'hit about this stuff ...but, I know about power outages. (even tho' my REC is 1,000x better than RECs in the 1960s) ...but I never thought about a backup with any clarity 'till this video. T'anks! Jim
Excellent video as usual. But I have to point out that cheap UPSes have week surge protection or none. Any electrical engineer will recommend a surge protector rated at least 2000 Joules to provide adequate protection. Such a surge protector is not much more expensive than a cheap one. Another interesting question is what happens if lightning strikes the dish. Kaboom!!!! The 2000+ joule surge protector will absorb the surge and probably die but your electronics live for another day.
Just received that my starlink ready for order been waiting since February 9th 2021. What do you know about starlink's wifi wireless mesh that you can order from them?
Very interesting. I received my "dongle" (and some accessories) yesterday. I broke down and purchased the R/V package last week while still on the "wait-list" for residential service since 4/15/21. Gonna relocate the dish today to the opposite end of the house and hopefully eliminate the Pine Tree obstructions that may be causing my erratic signal and speeds? One minute I get 110Mbps (download) and the next test shows 3Mbps. 🙃
I have zero obstruction and this is the same case for me. Anywhere from 2-140 Mbps down. I tested the 5g @ 130 Mbps and the ethernet (hard wired) was only getting about 20Mbps. Thats right off the dongle or same result through my Nighthawk X6. Frustrating. I am up in Alberta Canada, also on the RV due to wait list.
@@keenanruff3993 ~ Moved my "R/V" dish away from the trees, no more obstructions, however, I still see very erratic speeds over here also, 3-110 Mbps (down) / 0.50-25 Mbps (up) and hardwired? I wanted to save the ethernet adapter for my residential service if that ever gets here? I use a Netgear Nighthawk X8 and a Netgear signal booster to get a good signal on the property from my other 6-8 Mbps internet service. Hoping the Residential service has more consistent speeds? Very disappointed with Starlink so far 🤨 Apple Valley, California.
@@royrobinson4636 My guess is you will find Starlink Residential service a big improvement to your RV speeds. I’m one county over from you (in Kern county, it sounds like your in San Bernardino county) and have had Starlink Residential since 11/21. My service has remained quite good so far.
@@kamakaziozzie3038 ~ Hi neighbor! You're right, I do live in San Bernardino County in a very rural mountain foothill area @ 3,500ft. actually South/East of the Town of Apple Valley (8-10 miles away). FedEx delivered my *Starlink Residential kit about 3 weeks after my prior comments. The difference was very encouraging. During "off-peak" hours my speeds average between 125-180Mbps (down) and 8-12Mbps (up). During "peak-hours" 75-150Mbps (down) and 5-8Mbps (up). The fastest observed speeds (so far) have been 245 (down) and 23 (up) which is a major improvement from the R/V service and our other internet service.
Is the dongle cat5e or cat6? What type of cable are you using. If the RJ45 is cat6 and you are using a cat5e cable, you might encounter some issues like you describe (wiggle room).
better for a cheaper component to fail and be easily replaced than have to replace the whole unit. i don't get the hate for dongles. they're the future of modular devices.
It is absolutley a dongle; it breaks out Ethernet from another (proprietary even) plug type to provide functionality that does not otherwise exist - the definition of a dongle.
Question: I have an Ethernet adapter, I have my Xbox one plugged into the adapter directly and I have 2.4/5GHZ network split turned on, would my Xbox one automatically get 5GHZ instead of 2.4GHZ?
Hey J, am I thinking correct that If I use the dongle there is no signing in? I had sent you a message yesterday but others might have this problem too. I set up my kit yesterday and created my network name and password with my phone, all was good. When I tried to log in on my PC it asked for the "network key " was not my password, I don't know why it wasn't. So I'm thinking with the dongle I can use the laptop to stream amazon so I stop getting spooling during a show... Thanks and love the vids, new sub here.
@@fredwebb4664 the tri state area of pa wv and Ohio had a lot of areas covered now nothing. I hope they're not stopping for the year. We need it desperately
I have zero obstruction and this is the same case for me. Anywhere from 2-140 Mbps down. I tested the 5g @ 130 Mbps and the ethernet (hard wired) was only getting about 20Mbps. Thats right off the dongle or same result through my Nighthawk X6. Frustrating. I am up in Alberta Canada, also on the RV due to wait list.
Have you thought about cutting the Cat5e cable before the ethernet adapter and installing a lightning surge protector that’s grounded an exterior copper ground? I assume Starlink grounds the dish through the electrical ground accessible through the wall outlets so the surge must pass through the adapter and router before reaching the ground. By cutting the cable and splicing in two RJ45 connectors and a grounded lightning surge protector you might eliminate the costly surges.
Today we do a complete teardown of a Starlink Ethernet Adapter (Dongle) to uncover what is causing these units to fail.
A friend of the show sent in their dongle for us to crack open to try and find its vulnerabilities.
From teatime to power tools, today's show will be a fun one!
This is the small but powerful battery backup I'm using: amzn.to/3tEqQCp
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- tp-link AC Router - amzn.to/3so07J1
- tp-link AX Router - amzn.to/3sf2or8
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- tp-link Unmanaged Switch: amzn.to/3FVbaih
- tp-link Outdoor Access Point - amzn.to/3uqDYfP
- tp-link Indoor Access Point - amzn.to/3rV6Nzk
- tp-link Control Module (100Mbps) - amzn.to/3Lduaf3
- tp-link Control Module (Gigabit) - amzn.to/3rVBqEx
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Vindicated with the dongle lol. Nice
I have an interesting story about my Starlink router. I started a support ticket because my router is broadcasting an SSID called "SP Red Test Only". It has been since I got it, and I can't enter it. I started the support ticket because this is a security vulnerability, as I have no idea how secure the password for that SSID is. Well, they blew me off with some canned non-response. I responded back that if they were not going to address the issue, I'd use my Wifi Pineapple to capture the "handshake" that the SSID is putting out and then use a program like Hashcat to gain access to that network. Well, that got them moving. I got a call from Starlink within just a minute or two of sending that message (at 8:30pm). They are sending me a new router, and he said to not gain access to that network or my service would likely be shut off. I also learned during this exchange that WPA3 is no longer working (which I suspected because the slider is no longer in the app). He said they are working on it and hope to get it working again. No time frame was given. Thought you might find that interesting!
I assume that "SP Red Test Only" is a diagnostic network to enter the CLI, and it's never meant to ship to customers with that enabled. It's probably safe to assume Starlink does not want the general public to enter their proprietary software. If anyone has any more info on this, I'd love to hear it!
FYI, I use a small hammer and give few good hits on the seam, that usually breaks the glue bond enough to start the prying. Not as fun as a Dremel, but a lot less messy and a lot faster!
Good conclusion... I'd expect his environment was high humidity during the storms. Oh, and those chassis pieces weren't glued. They are clamped in a fixture and acoustically welded... ultrasonic plastic welding of thermoplastics. Inducers vibrate the prescribed plastic at 30 to 70 Khz and the mating surfaces melt due to friction. Often times, one or both halves are molded with a sharp pointed ridge that focuses the ultrasonic energy to that point for maximum adhesion (melt).
I just ordered Starlink today and I watched your video - Things I Wish I Knew Before Ordering Starlink. So I purchased items you recommended. Now I see this video and took your advice on the battery surge protector which I also ordered. Thanks so much you've saved me a bunch of headaches ahead of time. So hopefully I won't have any problems with my "dongle." 😂😂😂
Awesome. Write a book that will be out soon that will also help. Thanks so much.
Thanks
Thank you for being here.
What you say is very true, I experienced the same thing, where the LAN adapter was not good because I compared it without an adapter with WiFi 5
Thanks!
Thanks for being here.
As someone who has responsibility for network infrastructure, lightning is no joke. We had a site in an old building on a military base that had chronic problems where storm activity affected a long cable run. Due to it's length, the cable acted as an antenna and soaked up static energy put into the air from lightning, which could and often did kill the ethernet port and possibly the entire router that it was connected to. No direct strike was even needed for the damage to happen, and the route was interior to all of the lightning protection we had applied from external directions. On top of all that, we learned that the building was not even grounded properly for electrical in the first place. That would never be allowed in the civilian world, but the military can apparently do or not do as it pleases with its old buildings. Thankfully we were finally able to move from that building to a better one.
So, the issue was never solved. It's now someone else's responsibility. In also typical military fashion.
Love your work. Stuart from Melbourne AU
10:15 I like the edit you did to change the Volts to Watts
👍🏻
Dongles started as security devices. They were plugged into serial ports. Certain software packages came with a dongle and if it was not installed the software would not run as a protection against software piracy. I first ran into them using AutoCAD a VERY long time ago. We're talking XT/AT/IBM Compatible days.
Yep. Some still use them.
oh, and then before that there were SCSI terminators ... sometimes built in sometimes not.
I hope you’re right about Starlink maybe offering a longer cable,in the future. I requested a longer cable because of obstructions at my location. They basically punched my ticket and told me they couldn’t help,and of course if I tried to replace the cable with another, my warranty would be voided. I thanked them for punching my ticket, bought a 200’ length of cat 5e cable, took the ends off my old 75 ft. cable, used rj45 ends and waterproof female to female connectors for splices and moved the dish to where it is unobstructed. When I plugged it up it would boot repeatedly. Troubleshooting revealed a defective waterproof connector. After replacing it, the system has worked without issue for over a month. I, like you, believe that they are erring on the side of caution with length, but it still frosts me that their customer service people know much less about the system than I do and are limited to reading their script. As a person who has never had access to high speed internet at my home until Starlink, I am extremely pleased, even with the startup hiccups, the throttling that I am convinced is occurring, and the lack of customer support. I hope all these are corrected sooner rather than later, but until someone decides that this area of the country will be profitable for them to install fiber, I will smile and continue to pay Elon for Starlink.
Thanks so much for your videos. I learn each time I watch one.
Many people have been asking for over 150ft ... Fingers Crossed.
@@jcristina they do 150ft now but that's about it
Just ordered the backup!!! Thanks
Hope you enjoy it! It helps me at least 2-3 times a week when we get hit with a BROWN OUT.
Thank you! I have had this same issue and this explains it perfectly!
I am an old dummy (72 years old) that is thinking about buying starlink kit to take to Quartzsite next year. Right now I uses a cell phone MOFI 4500 with 2 SIM card option ( I have a AT&T unlimited plus plane) And a cell booster antenna. I had someone set this up for me. It’s all greek to me. I like to boondock and have all the gadgets from home in my 4x4 motorhome.
Starlink is perfect for your boondocking! ;)
P.S. hopefully by Thanksgiving Starlink will have this all sorted out.
P.S.S. Can you buy that Ethernet Adapter/ dongle Cable from an outside source?
@@bootmender eBay, and its just a scalper or possibly defective. They are proprietary so only from SL.
I think we, the Donglefied, should unite!
Yes!! We the Donglefied declare that Starlink derives its power not from a king or a Congress, but from the Donglefied themselves. We demand dongles that can withstand nature's wrath!
Going onto my third dongle and then they’re sending second router so hopefully this solves a problem thanks for your all information it helps a lot
Glad it helped. 🤞🏻 on the dongle.
You're starting to crack me up on a regular basis LOL, but thanks for the insight.
You’re very welcome. Glad you’re here.
Another option could be that a surge came thru his Ethernet cable and burnt some of components on the PCB board. On the circuit board one wire is marked GND. The router has a three prong plug so the whole Starlink is grounded. Maybe a shielded Ethernet cable would help. I have the Starlink router in an outside metal shack and have a 100 ft shielded Ethernet cable on the ground to the house. We have great thunderstorms and it is still working.
Likewise. I have 150ft CAT 6 Burial Cable also. Even without conduit.
Love these discussions, they are very helpful.
Thank you Brian.
Great video, that pointed me in the right direction, but you got 1 thing slightly wrong. The length of cable the runs from the dongle, to the router actually contains 2 CAT6 cables, 1 with thicker, stranded cables, these are the ones wrapped in black heat shrink, with half connected to 1 side of the board and half to the other, is for the data from the dish to the router You can literally trace them from the back of the input to the cable.. The other set, with the really thin cables is the return data, from the router to the Ethernet port, again with half on 1 side of the board and half on the other solid core, but with really thin sheaths. This thin set does pass through the capacitors, resistors and onboard chipset, whereas the thicker cables pass straight through, without touching said components. Both sets of cables pass through a pinch point, designed to keep the cable from coming out, but with nothing to really stop the wires from moving and being pinched during manufacture. I can also confirm that the V1.1 batch was in production for over 8 months, with yours produced 02/22, and the one I just pulled apart produced in 10/22. I've started using a SPX to Ethernet adapter, with a POE injector, allowing me to do away with the Starlink dongle and router.
Very helpful. Thanks. I was wondering if an adapter existed, so you saved me some research.
thanks for the video, just one point: ethernet magnetics are primarily for isolation, not EMI. shielding is for EMI. ethernet was designed to run long distances, it can't reference the same "ground" if they're crossing buildings. the signal needs to be isolated from building A's reference through a transformer (magnetics) which it can then be referenced to building B's ground through another isolation transformer. a secondary advantage is that transformers offer common mode rejection, which does make it more immune to noise from other EMI sources.
Joe, as usual, your videos are EXCELLENT! Thanks for making this video. I truly appreciate it.
Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment. Blessings.
10:14 - "150 all the way up to 180 volts" - I see what you did there........ You made me buy a UPS - thanks
For me, a UPS is, smart money, while a simple surge protector will help with a lighting strike. The UPS will keep the system running without any HARD reboots whenever there is a brownout or power fluctuation. 👍
Donglefied, donglefication, 😂 awesome info session.
Glad you enjoyed it! It was fun putting together for everyone. I hope it helps someone out there...
Informative and funny at the same time. Great video.
Appreciate you taking the time to comment.
@12:37 both sides look clean, yes, but that rj45 socket is isolated from everything, no tracks, this means its a double layer pcb, or to make more sense, three layers, top, bottom, and the middle tracks you can not see - which begs the question, what other tracks can we not see. the dish-router path may be clean because that side uses drain wires, probably linked to MOVs in the router, because I dont see any circuitry either side that is used in suppression techniques. Nice video btw :)
I am so HAPPY my Dishy Gen.1 has bigger antenna, No RAIN FADE and doesn't have a DONGLE 👍😎
My Mr.Bevel friends wish they had Gen.1!
Mine is Mr. Bevel. Yours is Rollie Ollie
@@jcristina Mr Bevel must be Male - he has Dongles.
Rollie Okie is female & has no Dongles.
Now I understand the difference 😁
yep good run down
This is how Wikipedia defines a dongle: "A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality."
There that should settle it once and for all !!!
The biggest reason why they keep dyeing is printed right on them in very tiny print: " Made In China"
😂
A lot of things are made in China that last
@@agent47isn1 Yes the do, they last just long enough to get them home and out of the box then they CROKE!!!
LET'S GO MADE IN CHINA !!!
As I understand it, the problem went away once the router was replaced. Assuming the problem was in the router...a real common manufacturing defect I see is metal connectors (i.e. USB-C) with bodies not properly soldered down. If that was what happened on his router, then it would be no surprise if components in the dongle fail. One possible effect would be the magnetics would be subject to overvoltage and fail open, which would imply one or more pairs would fail a continuity test (orange to white-orange, etc).
No .. when the dongle was replaced.
Hi there from Beaverton Ontario. I have a square Stinky McDish Face dish. Thank you so much for this video. This exact thing happened to me after a thunder storm. I was pulling out my hair and eyelashes…. Because I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I thought it was my google mesh router, and then I ordered a 2nd “dongle” and It still isn’t working. There is something definitely wrong with this adapter. I haven’t contacted Starlink yet, but I guess I better. Hoping they will send me something that works. Thanks again, I learned a lot!
The connector may be a problem, but a component failure is more likely. Static failure does not always show up as visual destruction. I have seen many I/C and other component failures over 50+ years of component failures that demonstrated no visible destruction. Based on the dongle example provides the hg2439 I/C power converter is probably good, but the other I/C and components could be bad with no visible damage. I don't recall a connector going bad from static in all my years of dealing with electronic stuff. Pins do get deformed from abuse or poor mfg. process. Static from lightning does not always mean a direct hit which in this case would demonstrate considerable visible damage. The static charge surrounding lightning could damage I/C and other components without visible damage. That static is like your heir standing on ends before a lightning strike. That static would damage electronic stuff, but it is not powerful enough to cause physical damage. To help eliminate that type of static requires a proper grounding scheme of equipment.
Agree!!
"his dongle going dead" ... yeah, at my age, i need maybe to send mine in too? i am sure my misses would ask if its able to be fixed.. hahahahah great video as usual! u da man! Waldo County - last night - recorded highest test of 160 download !!!!!!! and 19 up !!! best ever! cheers from the woods of Maine !
Cheers. Thank you for being here and I wish you luck with your dongle. 😉
some of my tickets got sent off to the head tech support because I had mentioned to them some ideas to try out from techs online i was talking with. Starlink may need to come out with a whole new modem it is hard to say right now what they will decide to do in the future, in Europe, Starlink is workin fantastic I hear. but now in west USA they are starting to have the same problems as the rest of us with the upload instability... hey starlink is still great. i'm still able to watch 4k videos and upload to youtube... this is just for us who want to stream games mostly. thanks for another video, this was neat information
Great info. Thank you.
@@jcristinajust found a really bad glitch in their app. I changed my spit back and the entire app glitched and said it disconnected the whole system for a sec, then it took me to the Stow page... now the page where the split option was located is no longer in my app. It takes 3 to 4 days to get a reply from them. great. My parents are going to be mad
Standard electronic engineering : the antenna cable should have direct lightning ground connectors, going to a proper ground rod/system. The cable is picking up a charge from the static, and can be expected to bring high voltage indoors unless physically grounded and preferably disconnected, outside. OUTSIDE the building, not inside on the dongle.
FWIW, chances are that at least one lot of Ethernet I/F devices does not have enough ESD protection. Often damaged devices will kinda work. Theo my way to determine if that’s a problem is to put it in an SEM to look at the stack. Lightning storms can increase the potential which has to go somewhere. Looking at the circuit board in the video, it doesn’t look like there is a robust snubber circuit. On the other hand, hefty snubbers would be in conflict with high frequency signals. For most installations, the likelihood of a big ESD event is pretty small. There are a ton of physical installation decisions that can make the systems more likely to suffer damage. Moving the cable in the socket could cause a number of situations. NEC code compliance is validated by third party test facilities. “Certification” has to be judged by the exact test process employed.
Thank you so much for that!! Appreciate the breakdown. Blessings.
15:40 That's exactly how mine acted, both of them. Granted we've had thunderstorms every weekend from may till first of July. Really weird both my adapters are 100mb, and occasionally just wouldn't connect for hours then would pop back online.
Great video by the way
Thank you
Finally got my warranty starlink to work. Went to hook the ethernet adapter in the circuit, and of course my luck it has 100% ping loss through the adapter. Remove the dongle from the circuit, everything works fine. Created a ticket, they are sending me a replacement dongle. I wonder if they have a warehouse of 'probably don't work' pieces they mail first. Then if someone complains the ship a 'good one' from a different warehouse... dunno.
😢
This issue could be related to a faulty RJ45 having the pins curve the opposite way than what they should. This issue I have only seen myself in the Ubiquiti UBNT AF5X point-to-point 5Ghz radios which have an issue with both their ethernet ports, all socket RJ45 golden pins normally have a slight concave shape so that it sits nicely contacting the RJ45 male plug gold contacts, but in the AF5X AirFiber5X they are bent 180 degrees the wrong way therefore the only place of contact is on the end of the male plug which subsequently wears off the gold and causes bad contact and therefore flapping of the interface. Typically takes about 4 to 6 months to manifest a flapping issue and can be caused by the wind slightly moving the cable and its plug.
By disabling the Mikrotik ethernet port connected to the AF5X and re-enabling it will create enough of a voltage jump across the contacts to allow ethernet link up again or maybe to go from 100Mb to 1000Mb, but this is only temporary for a day or week. Best option is to solder in a new ethernet socket port or option B is to bend the pins using a pair of mini pliers but here one needs far too much patients for. The new version AF5XHD is correctly designed with the concave pins in the correct direction.
Cheers Daniel Beckmann
WISP Netherlands friesedraad.nl
Awesome!! Thank you!! 😀
Thank you.
Great video. Can you tear down a V2 dongle and do a side by side comparison?
If I had one. Thank so much Mike for being here.
I install Starlink systems. I do not use Starlink at home. Two big questions I have are: WHY did Starlink reduce the dish cable to 50 feet from 100 feet (Gen.1), and, WHY did they remove the Ethernet port from the Gen.2 Modem??? Gen.1 has a built-in ethernet port on the Modem.
Personally I think it was a mistake.
"you know, the thing"
Based
:) Yes.. I know it! ;)
Thank-you 👍🙂
Thank you.
10:17 Gen2 power is 48 volts at 2 amps (96 watts) It is in in the specs printed on that instruction manual that comes with the Gen2 kit.
Instruction manual? Our kit didn't include ANY instructions.
@@jeffpizzi4385 It did not come with a piece of paper folded a few time? It was titled "Regulatory Notices" in 30 languages. That is not where the specifications is printed. The instruction manual was a big cardboard with pictures.
I would suggest that they did this in order to make the new StarLink modem waterproof.
🍵
A little off topic but can you put a splitter on that dongle? I need to hock up two cables, if so is there one you would recommend. Thanks in advance.
Okay already got my answer on the of your previous Videos looks like you got it all covered thanks again.
Use a $20 unmanaged switch. Have one listed with a link below
Bad connectors. Always fun.
🙀
This has happened to me too after a big storm hit us. I had to replace the router too. I replaced the dongle first but it still wasn't working so maybe it was both router and dongle
Starlink had to do an ethernet dongle to have a high water proof rating on the main wifi unit, that's why it can be used for outside use and it says if you add the ethernet dongle to it, it's for indoor use only.
Interesting.
I thought it was cost cutting.
@@jrr851 not much cost cutting, they built a 2 port ethernet switch in the wifi box. all the ethernet dongle does is add 8 more wires to bring out that 2nd ethernet port for use.
I've been through 4 adapter replacements, and a dish. Have no idea why they did this. I still have no hardwired ethernet.
Ouch
@@jcristina I have solved the problem by inserting a Peplink between the Starlink router and my ubiquity dream machine. I am sure Starlink will address this eventually, I have trouble complaining about Starlink as I now have high speed internet in the middle of a forest!
Had the same problem, Starlink sent me a new router and dongle😊
Awesome
I wanted you to know, my teenage son and me, are gonna do the step by step mesh system you did in a video- ( we downloaded your video and have gone over it for prep and planning ) we are gamma attempt to get our signal in the barn.. something never done ..we are waiting for amazon to deliver, the switch and then we should be ready. we picked the items from your mesh amazon suggestions. we will keep you posted on our success, if you would like h
Exciting. Please let me know how it goes!!! Thanks for sharing.
If you start using IP based security cams you can place a camera in the barn then view and record the footage anywhere on the network. An IP based camera doesn't actually need a recorder device. So if you don't want/need recording you can have cams all over and just connect to them to view...it's pretty awesome once you start to understand the networking stuff it opens all kinds of possibilities. I use 2 security cams and an old router on my enclosed trailer. One mounted in the rear to see behind, the other inside to watch my load. Cost me about $40 for the 2 cams. I had everything else on hand.
I won't be going live with SL for another few weeks. Does SL mention any lighting surge protection suggestions or options in their installation instructions? Of course, I'll use a UPS, but that won't protect a surge coming in over the ethernet. Is there any grounding for the dish?
They do not.. They say it had lightning protection already..
At a minimum, I recommend that users install a ground from their chosen mount to either an existing ground (e.g. grounded gas meter or plumbing) or install a grounding rod (driven into the Ground). At the very minimum, this will provide static discharge. Maybe the plastic housing in the dish doesn't draw lightning as I'd expect with the metal inside.
Great video, have you noticed the new style speed test on the app? And the new info box on the speed test excusing the slow speeds at peak usage times along with the super slow speeds at these times? Mine now dropping below 20Mb at peak times..... Oversubscribed for satellite numbers possibly?
You could be right. I’m thinking about doing a Starlink Saturday or Starlink Sunday LIVE to answer questions and hang out with people.
Great video. Thankfully the dongle has been solid on my v2 kit (received in April of 2022). However, a buddy has had the exact issues you describe (SL just RMA'd his entire kit after a second bad dongle), save he didn't have the thunderstorm variable. Anyhow, thanks for sharing. Did you attempt to fix the bad dongle?
I got an ethernet adapter yesterday and I think the rj jack is bad. Wireless still works, but ethernet will not connect.
I have the same issue. My ethernet adapter suddenly stopped working and I received a replacement yesterday but that also doesn't works. Now Starlink ships me a new power cable because they thinks that might be the issue...I really hope they are right.
You can test the dongle from a PC/MAC/Linux machine on ethernet by running a continuous ping to dishy. "ping 192 dot 168 dot 100 dot 1 -t" no quotes, and then go shake the wire/dongle around and see if you dropped packets. On a PC crtrl C to end it and get the results. There should be no drops and a speed of 1ms.
Correct. On Linux and MacOS drop the -t as it’s not needed to do a continuous ping test. 👍🏻👍🏻
I couldn't finish watching this. A little brevity goes a long way
Not easy when you have ADD... My apologies..
Every thunderstorm makes the/his dongle go dead? Lol 😊Time for a surge protector?
Battery backup with network support.
Is the dish itself properly grounded? if it were a static charge buildup from The Storm it could have traveled from the dish through the cable into the ethernet dongle. And just because the component doesn't look burnt it doesn't mean that it couldn't have been zapped by a static charge. In your case though it looked like the ethernet Jack itself might have been bad sometimes those pins don't make full contact and with the rush to get them out I'm sure quality control suffered.
110%
OH NO JCRISTINA !!! You undonglificated and VOIDED the Warranty! How could you have done that ???!!! AAAAAAAahhhhhhh!!!
😂 that was not mine. 😂
@@jcristina Oh Yeah…. I just needed to think of up a comment which used the word UNdonglification, or REdongleized or OVER-Deaddongled (mean you received over and over again bad electronic dongles, none of which worked, so you ended up in an extreme frustrated mental state of over-stress called DeadDongleitus.
Possibly that "just wifi unless" was done to intentionally throttle users, by leaving out the high speed connection and not saying that too loudly.
His lips said volts, but the video said watts. LOL
Thank you for all of the editor I pay. 💰 😂
@@jcristina kidding with you. Keep up the good videos.
Would 150ft cable affect my speed
Nope
I've been kinda ignoring Starlink till recently when they announced that they were dropping the price of the equipment and the monthly service fee in Mexico to be more on par with other providers down there. My family is from a pretty rural town in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the only option for internet is thru cellular service, and that's very spotty depending on where your house is at. No one has landline phone service (DSL) or Cable modem. Cellular service is also very expensive on top of not being so fast, it's capped at certain amounts. For a while, Starlink was close to $1000 for the equipment, and around $110 a month for service, but they recently cut the price down to around $420 for the equipment and $55 a month for service, so I will be ordering Starlink as soon as I figure out how to do so, since you need a Mexican address (got that) and I'm guessing a credit card or debit card with a Mexican bank. My parents are the ones that are there more often, traveling several times a year. Myself and my siblings, maybe once a year, but it's gonna be nice finally having actual internet whenever we visit.
Does the dongle need to be purchased from Starlink or can any brand be used?
Purchased from Starlink!
@@jcristina thank you. We’ve been having nothing but trouble with our starlink since we received it in January. I’d say it’s been down more than it’s been up. Complained and they sent a new router and cable twice which worked sporadically. Now they sent a new system that won’t work at all. We’re at our wits end!
I’ve had Starlink since March and haven’t been getting the speeds I hoped for necessarily. I’m in the rural east Texas area, and according to the coverage map on Starlink’s website the service is “coming soon”. If that’s the case why did I get my equipment and it’s working (although not as well as I hoped)?
Now that's a great question.. You should be in a "WAITING LIST" area.. Not coming soon!
Great breakdown. The issue I'm having (still 1-2mbps) is that I'm running in pass-thru mode, so my Wifi is ultimately thru the RJ45 ethernet jack as well. My unifi Dream Machine pro is the one that's handing out DHCP addresses and controlling the access points around the house.
Sent a request to starlink 2 weeks ago, still no answer back from them. Their help article wants me to disconnect my router, switches and AP, create a separate network and send screen shots from there. Sigh.
At this point I think it would be much easier to just spend the $25 on a new dongle and hope they send a good one.
Agree... Maybe BUY TWO .. Since they are known to go bad and it would be nice to have one as a backup.. :0 I did...
Wondering what the average power usage on the Starlink is over a period of time. Well done video, very nice edit on the "watts".
Thank you. I will look into that. As for the edit. I could have cut to another view but sometime it’s just fun to basic fix stuff. Volts, AMPS, Watts. All the same. Lmfao.
I did some datalogging of the amp draw and had an average of 530mA with a range of about 400-800mA over about an hour log.
You should have put a dongle counter on the screen to see how many times you say dongle in the video 😆
I love the idea.
I don't know c'hit about this stuff ...but, I know about power outages. (even tho' my REC is 1,000x better than RECs in the 1960s) ...but I never thought about a backup with any clarity 'till this video. T'anks! Jim
Thank you Jim. Appreciate you being here.
Excellent video as usual. But I have to point out that cheap UPSes have week surge protection or none. Any electrical engineer will recommend a surge protector rated at least 2000 Joules to provide adequate protection. Such a surge protector is not much more expensive than a cheap one.
Another interesting question is what happens if lightning strikes the dish. Kaboom!!!! The 2000+ joule surge protector will absorb the surge and probably die but your electronics live for another day.
Cool video. Thanks for sharing :) subbed & liked
Thank you for being here.
Just received that my starlink ready for order been waiting since February 9th 2021. What do you know about starlink's wifi wireless mesh that you can order from them?
I can not use it as it does not provide backhauling. I did an entire video about it. Check out my Starlink playlist. 👍🏻
Received starlink kit yesterday set it up found starlink booted 20 minutes updated software last 12 hours 33 seconds outage overall
Starlink phone number
Very interesting. I received my "dongle" (and some accessories) yesterday. I broke down and purchased the R/V package last week while still on the "wait-list" for residential service since 4/15/21. Gonna relocate the dish today to the opposite end of the house and hopefully eliminate the Pine Tree obstructions that may be causing my erratic signal and speeds? One minute I get 110Mbps (download) and the next test shows 3Mbps. 🙃
Yes. Make sure there are no obstructions before doing anything else. They can certainly cause erratic speeds as satellites move and the tree do also.
I have zero obstruction and this is the same case for me. Anywhere from 2-140 Mbps down. I tested the 5g @ 130 Mbps and the ethernet (hard wired) was only getting about 20Mbps. Thats right off the dongle or same result through my Nighthawk X6. Frustrating. I am up in Alberta Canada, also on the RV due to wait list.
@@keenanruff3993 ~ Moved my "R/V" dish away from the trees, no more obstructions, however, I still see very erratic speeds over here also, 3-110 Mbps (down) / 0.50-25 Mbps (up) and hardwired? I wanted to save the ethernet adapter for my residential service if that ever gets here? I use a Netgear Nighthawk X8 and a Netgear signal booster to get a good signal on the property from my other 6-8 Mbps internet service. Hoping the Residential service has more consistent speeds? Very disappointed with Starlink so far 🤨 Apple Valley, California.
@@royrobinson4636 My guess is you will find Starlink Residential service a big improvement to your RV speeds.
I’m one county over from you (in Kern county, it sounds like your in San Bernardino county) and have had Starlink Residential since 11/21. My service has remained quite good so far.
@@kamakaziozzie3038 ~ Hi neighbor! You're right, I do live in San Bernardino County in a very rural mountain foothill area @ 3,500ft. actually South/East of the Town of Apple Valley (8-10 miles away). FedEx delivered my *Starlink Residential kit about 3 weeks after my prior comments. The difference was very encouraging. During "off-peak" hours my speeds average between 125-180Mbps (down) and 8-12Mbps (up). During "peak-hours" 75-150Mbps (down) and 5-8Mbps (up). The fastest observed speeds (so far) have been 245 (down) and 23 (up) which is a major improvement from the R/V service and our other internet service.
Is the dongle cat5e or cat6?
What type of cable are you using.
If the RJ45 is cat6 and you are using a cat5e cable, you might encounter some issues like you describe (wiggle room).
Interesting. The pins are identical on CAT 5e or CAT 6. The only difference I. The gauge of the wires inside the cable. CAT 6 is slightly thicker.
What is the exact size of the backup you use as I see 3 options on Amazon when I click on the link
550VA is more than enough. You can get by with 450VA also.
@@jcristina Thank you
I am having to 100mb problem. I'm going to try the wiggle trick
Swap cables first, then wiggle... ;)
Why don’t you test your theory by replacing the RJ45 connector and see if it works.
@@craigkindell6415 Because that is another $25.00 and about a month of wait time to get it.
better for a cheaper component to fail and be easily replaced than have to replace the whole unit. i don't get the hate for dongles. they're the future of modular devices.
Point well taken.
It is absolutley a dongle; it breaks out Ethernet from another (proprietary even) plug type to provide functionality that does not otherwise exist - the definition of a dongle.
I wish starlink had a POE opinion for their adapter
🍵
It’s an ffffing dongle!! Lol !!
😝
One possibility is that there is electricity that loosens the solder connection.
point well taken.
loose solder connections (cold joints) have crippled many millions of devices over the years
Question: I have an Ethernet adapter, I have my Xbox one plugged into the adapter directly and I have 2.4/5GHZ network split turned on, would my Xbox one automatically get 5GHZ instead of 2.4GHZ?
Sadly. No. Either tell the xbox one to use the 5Ghz band or even better I would recommend connecting it with an Ethernet cable.
Hey J, am I thinking correct that If I use the dongle there is no signing in? I had sent you a message yesterday but others might have this problem too. I set up my kit yesterday and created my network name and password with my phone, all was good. When I tried to log in on my PC it asked for the "network key " was not my password, I don't know why it wasn't. So I'm thinking with the dongle I can use the laptop to stream amazon so I stop getting spooling during a show... Thanks and love the vids, new sub here.
Theory says the maximum cable length is 100 Meters (328 feet). 150 feet is very safe.
Too safe!!!! I need a 200-225' cable for a "Great" location with minimal obstructions............ As of now with a 150' cable it is only "Decent"!!
@@gregc.1491 Unfortunately Starlink does not offer a cable longer that 150 feet.
I was wondering why when I ordered one adapter, they sent two. Maybe the guessed I might need a spare.
😂
Same here. I ordered 1 to have as a backup and they sent me 2.
Yo! Did you see Starlink took their availability map down? I hope this isn't bad news. Still waiting.
Wow. I did not. Thanks for the heads up. I just check from here and it’s up. Maybe they were working on the site. Support tab was also down today.
It looks like it is back up, I believe that they updated coverage as my area was in wait list it is now available
@@fredwebb4664 the tri state area of pa wv and Ohio had a lot of areas covered now nothing. I hope they're not stopping for the year. We need it desperately
8:45 see that guys £20 for bugger all.
the same thing happened to mine
I just opened it using only my fingernails, it is version 3.0 and still no solution to the problem.
It only pings on channel 2, 6, and 7
I have zero obstruction and this is the same case for me. Anywhere from 2-140 Mbps down. I tested the 5g @ 130 Mbps and the ethernet (hard wired) was only getting about 20Mbps. Thats right off the dongle or same result through my Nighthawk X6. Frustrating. I am up in Alberta Canada, also on the RV due to wait list.
I would do 10 tests on both Ethernet and WiFi 5 and take an average. If the Ethernet is lower. There’s a problem.
@@jcristina I will do this and report back
180 "Watts" ??? I could have sworn you actually said 180 Volts and then edited a voiceover that changed volts to watts. Nice;-)
Quick edit without having to add lower thirds.
Have you thought about cutting the Cat5e cable before the ethernet adapter and installing a lightning surge protector that’s grounded an exterior copper ground?
I assume Starlink grounds the dish through the electrical ground accessible through the wall outlets so the surge must pass through the adapter and router before reaching the ground. By cutting the cable and splicing in two RJ45 connectors and a grounded lightning surge protector you might eliminate the costly surges.
Same thing, but in my case it sometimes works and then suddenly stops
This is gonna sound stupid , but I don’t even know what to use Ethernet for, I’m very old school but I want to maximize my system
20 bucks.
Damn, here in Europe they charge 40€ for that same dongle
Prices keep going ip!!
Get 3 to 10 mbps . It is 3rd party so I ordered a Starlink brand. I will see if that is why