If you’re one of the few people managing your Starlink system with the dish web portal, I have some bad news… Starlink has apparently turned off access to the built-in management portal hosted by all Starlink dishes. Despite the unfortunate date I am publishing this article, this is no April Fool’s day prank.
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Most Starlink customers use the iOS or Android app to install and manage their system. But since the beginning of Starlink, the dish had its own web management portal, accessible from any web browser connected to the Starlink network. The web portal could be accessed by browsing to dishy.starlink.com, or by typing in the IP address of the Starlink dish: 192.168.100.1. If you didn’t have a smartphone to load the app to, you could just use this web portal to set everything up and monitor your connection.
More than three years after Starlink first launched in the US with the round dish, it appears the web portal is a thing of the past. Late last week, I started seeing social media reports about the web portal not working. It’s pretty clear, based on the number of reports, that Starlink has decided to get rid of the web portal.
I’m not surprised by this move at all. First of all, the web portal hasn’t been updated in years. I didn’t personally use it to manage my system, but I did check on it from time to time. Most recently I checked the portal on my Gen 3 dish. To my surprise, the web portal loaded up a graphic of the Gen 1 round dish. There was no alignment tool. Several recent app features were missing (sleep mode, for example). Second, the current Gen 3 dish requires manual aiming. The Starlink app tells you exactly where to point the dish using your phone’s compass and other hardware. That simply isn’t practical in the web portal. With Gen 3 becoming the mainstream dish model, it was only a matter of time before access to dishy.starlink.com was turned off.
So what about those of you without smartphones or tablets, and no other way of using the Starlink app? Well, my advice would be to find a friend or family member with a device you can borrow. Generally, after you set up the dish for the first time, you won’t really need to use the app unless you have some kind of issue with the service or hardware. Starlink was designed to be installed and managed through the mobile app, so if you’ve been holding out, maybe now is the time to invest in a smartphone or tablet.
Let me know what you think in the comments below. I’m curious about how many of you were using the web portal. Or maybe you didn’t even know it existed! Thanks for reading.
I use the Web UI because the update resolution and scaling for the bandwidth graphs is better controlled. This is a terrible move to remove this functionality and force people to the app.
The last time we thought there was malice was when they “forced” the statistics page to require the stock router. Turns out this was a coding error.
Let’s hope this is simply because the code is too outdated and a bump to the version without sacrificing too much can be achieved.
Support got back to me and said this is a “newly instated policy as of April 2024.”
Pretty sure that’s a untrained offshore support worker but if it’s on purpose in any way, it’s not good.
How do I stow the dish in bypass mode if I can’t access the web portal? I used to go to the web portal just for this purpose.
You can use the app. The Starlink router is not needed to use the app.
Is there a way to perform port forwarding, and vpn routing on the wifi device? For the life of me I haven’t been able to access any advanced routing on this. You know? like every other router on the planet?
No, the Starlink router does not have this functionality.
I totally agree with Rod, and also Gg . …… The loss of the website is a black mark for Starlink.
I bought a dishy because Starlink proudly announced internet everywhere in Australia, including the vast remote areas outside of cell coverage.
Much of my time has been and will be spent in these areas, so I don’t own a smart phone.
It seems absolutely ridiculous that an internet provider that promotes internet everywhere (no cell-phone signal needed), has now become totally dependant on a smart phone to get it working properly.
Elon you have surrendered competitive advantage. Please reinstate the website.
I need an empty box 📦 or carton to ship back my satellite dish and modem or router. Can you help?
You can ask Starlink if they can ship you one, but I can’t help with that. Any box will do. You can go to a local hardware or shipping store and find a box and packing material to protect the equipment.
Since there was no comment section on the article about Starlink installation services, I’m writing my thoughts here. Hello, I represent a company in Japan that independently undertakes the installation of Starlink systems. Over the past year or so, we have installed about 120 Starlink units. Most of our installations have been in private homes, but we’ve also installed systems in a variety of locations including condominiums, mountain lodges on Mount Fuji, embassies, golf courses, and hospitals.
To be honest, we rarely use the official mounts for most installations. While the official mounts are versatile, they often do not offer the best solution for most locations. We have published some of our installation cases, and achieving high-quality work requires more than just the official parts; a $200 labor fee is simply not sufficient. I wonder if this pricing is appropriate even in the United States, where labor costs are presumably higher than in Japan. Does this indicate that the installations are of low quality, akin to a DIY project that’s just about getting the unit installed?
I’m not familiar with the installation practices in the United States, but I’m concerned that introducing such a service at this price point in Japan could lead to a proliferation of low-quality installations. Additionally, in Japan, handling the Starlink cable routing may require a national qualification in some cases, so the situation might be different. You can view some of our Starlink installation cases at the following link: https://9696.co.jp/case-category/starlink/
I just noticed the comment section was turned off accidentally on the Starlink installation services post, sorry about that! Regarding the price point, I think it’s reasonable for residential applications. Many private installers operating in the US told me they charge anywhere from $70-$150/hr. With the Starlink mounts, it’s possible to complete a basic installation in under 2 hours. It’s possible that this $199 installation has limitations on what the scope could be. For example, a simple install on the fascia board + running the cable down and into an exterior wood wall would be included. But a chimney or concrete wall installation and running the cable through 75 feet of basement to the router location would not be included. That’s just speculation on my part, since we don’t know all the details yet.
I noticed that I couldn’t access the web portal yesterday. I rarely used it but was happy that it was there if I had a problem with the app.
The app also allows Starling to track the geo-location of the app user in a much more precise way. Can the dish itself be geo-located? (Allowing or blocking access to the sats in certain countries is something else. )
Yes, the dish knows where it’s at, even without the app. That’s a requirement and the first thing it does when it boots up, using the Starlink sats to determine a pretty accurate location.
The dish has a standard GPS receiver on board, it doesn’t use Starlink to find its location.
Correct, but it can use Starlink satellites to position itself as a supplement or backup to the GPS chip.
I did notice that I can no longer browse to Starlink on my laptop. I just figured they would soon fix it, but MAY NOT! On well, at least I had both, so now I only have my smartphone. Good Luck to those who don’t have smartphone!
Hi Noah,
How can I get an indication of the timeline for availability of the latest Starlink Dish (I think it’s Gen 3) For the Southern Caribbean?
Starlink hasn’t published any kind of timeline. Your guess on availability outside of the US and Australia is as good as mine.
I definitely prefer having the website available for use on my desktop. It’s much easier for old and bad eyes and such than the tiny little screen and keyboard on the phone. I can survive without the website, but the loss of it is a black mark for Starlink.
Hi Noah,
I discovered this this morning. First thing I do is to check for any overnight outages and get an idea of the latency. Always found it very useful but use the app for any setup etc.
Very sorry to see the portal go.
Rod