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Comment by savant_penguin | Hacker News Reader

"However, one drawback to the second-gen dish is the lack of a built-in Ethernet port, which can be found on the original Starlink dish. Instead, the company is selling an Ethernet adaptor for the dish via the Starlink online shop. "

Did they just pull an apple here?

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I don't think so, no, what they're calling an "ethernet adapter" for ordinary consumers is just going to be the power over ethernet brick that goes to the IP68 rated outdoor cable. They're calling it that because ordinary non technical end users don't know what serious PoE is.

The 1st gen starlink terminal has a big beefy (above 802.3bt!) PoE injector that comes with it. Resembles a gaming laptop power supply.

The network connection, DHCP lease, default route on a starlink terminal comes from the antenna unit itself, not the indoor router. You can plug any ordinary 1000BaseT 1500 MTU DHCP client into a starlink PoE injector and get a default route outbound through the cgnat.

The router that comes with them is just some very basic openwrt based thing.

In the 2nd gen it looks like what they might have done is combined the router and PoE injector into one unit, the 1000BaseT dongle shown in the new accessories guide is quite small. I do hope that it lets the user disable the wifi entirely if they have their own setup, to avoid interference.

The first gen dish the cable isn't detachable at the dish, it's permanently fixed, so they've solved that by using some new connector that they probably think is better than 8P8C/RJ45.

The “sold separate” is the “pulling an apple” though. It’s a required component isn’t it?

The modem is now waterproof. I'm guessing that an Ethernet port isn't easy to make waterproof.

These kind of connectors are pretty common:

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Ethernet-Network-Socket-Co...

Here is an outdoor router that uses them:

https://www.peplink.com/products/max-single-cellular-br1-ip-...

There is also the M12 standard.

That parts really not a problem.

The connector is actually the easier thing to weather proof the issues I’ve seen were always due to an inappropriately selected cable. Even without damage to the cable sleeve you can have moisture creeping up the inner core through condensation at that point capillary action takes over and your cable becomes a hose.

Once upon a time I thought electronics were complicated.

Now as an Adult, I realize that roofs, cables, screws and nails are some of the most complicated subjects in the world.

IP68 (completely dust tight, continuous immersion under 3ft of water without ill effects) plastic screw cap adapters for Ethernet are common. The new modem is "IP54 rated, configured for indoor use" (hard for dust to enter but dust can cause malfunction, low pressure water sprays for 5 minutes should not cause malfunction) i.e. "don't actually stick it outside but if you hit it a few times with your plant spray bottle it should be fine"

I think the article may be confused (or...wrong). The picture clearly shows a non-weatherproof RJ-45 cable plugging into the WiFi "modem". They also mix up "dish" with "WiFi router" several times. The dish has nothing to do with WiFi.

My best guess is that Starlink has cost-reduced the setup by integrating the PoE injector / PSU with the router (which previously was a regular router they packaged in a fancy case). Dropping the wired Ethernet port saves some cost since most users don't use wired networking today.

I'm skeptical that they have made the "modem" into an ODU (outdoor unit) because putting anything outdoor that you don't absolutely have to is a bad plan, and ... why would you want your WiFi AP to be outside the building envelope? Also a bad idea.

Where they may be "pulling an Apple" is that with the old design you could directly peer with the dish from your own router (and not use the Starlink-supplied router at all). It sounds like this arrangement won't be possible with the new design, at least not without buying the Ethernet adaptor.

Maybe it makes sense if the whole device needs to be installed in an inaccessible place frequently and most people would be unlikely to take advantage of a wired connection. Or maybe their statistics of the common usage of the equipment actually support it. Or both, I don't know.

In any case, since you're already being sold $2000 worth of equipment for the absurdly low price of $500, I'm not quite sure that a complaint about some adapter is in order.

>In any case, since you're already being sold $2000 worth of equipment for the absurdly low price of $500, I'm not quite sure that a complaint about some adapter is in order.

kinda agree. i remember watch or read a tear down on the original Starlink dish. it wasn't cheap to make but maybe Starlink should charge more for its dish instead?

A few pictures here: (old version) https://hackaday.com/2020/11/25/literally-tearing-apart-a-sp...

Inside is a giant 21-inch round-ish circuit board, with 600+ mini antennas on one side, and 600+ driver chips on the other.

These 632 antennas let them do phased-array beam steering, since the satellites are moving (not geo-stationary)

Teardown: https://youtu.be/iOmdQnIlnRo

A $2000 dish is still about $15-20k cheaper than getting Comcast to run 300 feet of coax.

And it's worth noting the Ethernet adapter is only $20, and appears to be a power supply as well:

https://api.starlink.com/public-files/Accessories_Guide_Rect... (page 8)

I bet 99% of their customers do not need an Ethernet port. It was a cost-saving measure.

It's worse than that.

"To connect a 3rd party router or mesh system, you will need to purchase the Ethernet Adapter from the Starlink Shop to allow for a wired connection to the network. Bypass functionality is coming soon, and we are actively working on development of a Starlink mesh product."

Previously, you could just throw out their shitty falling over WiFi thing to connect what you want. Now it's a dongle.

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