Starlink is sold as a plug-it-in-and-go product, and for a lot of homes it really is: set the dish on its kickstand in the yard, plug in the router, open the app. The trouble starts when the yard spot that worked on day one gets shaded by a leafing oak in May, when the 49-foot cable won’t reach the office, or when an HOA letter shows up taped to the door. That is the gap between “setting up” Starlink and installing it.
This guide is about the second one. It covers when a do-it-yourself install makes sense, what Starlink’s own professional installation includes and costs on each plan, how to choose between roof, wall and pole mounts, how to clear trees with simple arithmetic, and what renters, HOA residents, metal-roof owners, mobile-home owners and anyone in lightning country should know before drilling a single hole.
Nine Straight Answers Before Anyone Climbs a Ladder
These are the questions people type the night the box arrives. Short answers first; the reasoning comes further down.
Yes. Every home kit is designed for self-setup with the Starlink app, and a kickstand install takes minutes. A permanent roof or wall mount is a normal weekend project for anyone comfortable on a ladder and drilling into siding or shingles.
Starlink’s plans page lists free professional installation with Residential 200 Mbps ($85 a month) and Residential Max ($130 a month). On the $55 Residential 100 Mbps plan, the official install has been reported at $199. Independent local installers commonly charge a few hundred dollars depending on height and complexity.
In the U.S., Starlink’s authorized installation partner is OnTech. You add installation when ordering, then schedule it in your Starlink account. OnTech’s line for appointments is (844) 800-7332; account and service problems still go through the Starlink app.
Obstructions. The dish needs a wide cone of open sky, and a tree or chimney inside that cone causes brief dropouts that ruin video calls. Most “Starlink is unreliable” complaints trace back to a dish placed too low.
No. If the app’s obstruction check shows clear sky from the yard, a ground pole or even the kickstand works. The roof is simply the easiest way to get above trees and neighboring houses.
Usually not, if the dish is on property you own or exclusively control. The FCC’s over-the-air reception devices rule protects dishes one meter or smaller, and every current Starlink home dish qualifies. Shared roofs and common areas are different.
Don’t. Splicing or swapping in generic cable risks water getting into the connectors, and Starlink won’t support a modified cable. Buy the official longer cable or move the router instead.
The Mini has its router built in and draws far less power, so it can live on a pole, fence or railing with a Mini mount. It needs the same open sky. It works well for small homes and backups, though heavy-use households are better served by a full home dish.
In three ways: the free pro install on the two faster plans, “no upfront hardware cost” offers in select areas, and federal BEAD broadband grants that require satellite providers to supply equipment free at funded addresses. Ads promising a free dish with no plan attached deserve skepticism.
Find Your Installation Path in 30 Seconds
Pick the four things that shape almost every install. The tool suggests a mount, a realistic parts budget, and whether calling a pro is the smarter move for your plan.
Choose your options above.
How far does that tree need to be?
Enter how much taller an obstacle is than the spot where the dish will sit. The answer is the distance it needs to be from the dish to stay out of the main field of view.
Based on a 110° field of view, which leaves about 35° between the horizon and the edge of the cone. The dish tilts toward its assigned patch of sky, so obstacles in that direction matter most. Treat this as a first screen and confirm with the app’s obstruction check.
We built the clearance tool after working through the geometry behind Starlink’s 110° field of view. Ninety degrees of that cone points straight up; the remaining width splits into two 55° wedges, which leaves roughly a 35° band near each horizon that the dish ignores. Anything that rises above that 35° line is inside the view. The practical version: an obstacle needs to be about 1.4 times as far away as it is tall above the dish. A tree 30 feet taller than your mount point needs to be around 43 feet away. That one rule explains why moving a dish from a yard pole to a roof ridge so often fixes “random” disconnects, because raising the dish 20 feet shrinks every tree’s effective height by 20 feet at once.
How to Install Starlink Yourself, in the Order That Avoids Rework
The most expensive mistake in a DIY install is drilling first and testing second. This order puts the free, reversible steps before the permanent ones.
Run the obstruction check before you order mounts
The Starlink app has a check that uses your phone’s camera to scan the sky from the exact spot you’re considering. Do it from every candidate location: yard, deck railing, roof edge (from a ladder, held steady), gable peak. Write down what it says for each. A spot rated clear in the app is a candidate; a spot with obstructions shown in your dish’s direction is a warning.
If trees are bare, remember that leaves are coming. A deciduous tree that looks harmless in February can cut a summer connection in half.
Test on the kickstand for at least 24 hours
Put the dish on its kickstand at the best ground-level spot, or temporarily on a flat porch roof or picnic table, and use it normally for a day or two. The app will build a real obstruction map from actual satellite contacts, which is far more accurate than the camera check. If that map shows a clean sky, you may not need a mount at all.
Decide where the router will live, then measure the cable path
The standard kit includes a 15-meter cable, about 49 feet. Measure the real route with a string or tape: up or down the roof, along the fascia, down the wall, through the entry point, and across the room to the router. Add a few feet for a drip loop and for slack at the dish. If the total comes too close to 49 feet, either pick an entry point nearer the dish or order Starlink’s longer official cable. Do not plan on splicing.
Pick the mount that matches the surface, not the price
Shingle roofs suit a pivot mount; siding and fascia suit a wall mount; existing poles and railings suit the pipe adapter; open yards suit a ground pole set in concrete. Tile, slate and metal roofs need different hardware or a pro. The mount section below breaks these down.
Mount, seal and aim
Drive lag screws into rafters or wall studs, not just sheathing. On a roof, slide flashing or apply a roof-rated sealant under and over every screw. Seat the dish on the mast until it clicks in, then follow the app’s pointing guide. On current home dishes, the app tells you which way to face and how to tilt; in the continental U.S. that usually means generally north.
Route the cable with a drip loop and a sealed entry
Secure the cable every few feet with UV-rated clips, keep it out of gutters, and let it dip below the entry hole before it rises into the wall so rainwater drips off instead of following it inside. Seal the entry with a weatherproof wall plate or exterior silicone. Many people come in through an existing cable or vent opening, or through a window-frame flat cable from a third party, which avoids a new hole.
Power up, then watch a full day of stats
Connect the router, let the dish update its software, and run speed tests at different times. Leave it alone for 24 hours and check the app’s outage history. If brief outages cluster at the same direction, the obstruction map will show where, and you can adjust before tightening anything for good.
When we mapped out cable routes for three common house shapes, a one-story ranch, a two-story colonial and a raised beach cottage, the 49-foot stock cable was comfortable on the ranch, tight on the colonial when the office sat on the opposite side of the house, and short on the cottage once the run dropped under the floor framing. The fix in two of the three cases was moving the router, not buying cable. A router near an exterior wall plus a mesh node or wired access point in the far room is cheaper than most longer-cable setups and gives better Wi-Fi coverage anyway.
Starlink Installation on a Roof, Wall or Pole: Mount by Mount
Official Starlink mounts are sold in the Starlink app and shop, and a large third-party market copies them at lower prices. The right one depends on what you’re attaching to. Prices below are typical U.S. ranges we saw across the official shop and major retailers; exact figures change often.
| Mount | Best for | Holes in the house? | Typical cost | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstand (in the box) | Open yards, testing, renters | None | $0 | Mowers, pets, kids, and snow drifts |
| Pipe adapter | Existing mast, railing, fence post, J-pole | Depends on the pole | About $20–$45 | Pole diameter must match; check before ordering |
| Wall mount | Gable ends, fascia, chimneys, siding | Yes, into studs | About $25–$120 | Must reach above the roofline if trees are close |
| Pivot roof mount | Sloped shingle roofs | Yes, into rafters | About $20–$130 | Flashing and sealant on every screw |
| Ground pole | Large lots with a clear spot away from trees | None in the house | $40–$150 plus concrete | Call 811 before digging; longer cable often needed |
| Non-penetrating ballast | Flat roofs, rentals | None | $60–$200 | Needs enough weight for wind; check roof load |
| Mini mounts | Starlink Mini on poles, railings, vehicles | Usually none | About $25–$60 | Mini-specific; won’t fit the home dish |
Shingle roofs are the easy case. A pivot mount near the ridge on the north-facing slope gets the dish above most trees with the shortest exposed hardware. Find rafters with a stud finder from the attic side or by tapping, pre-drill, fill the holes with sealant before driving lag screws, and seal again over the heads. Many roofing warranties exclude damage from unauthorized penetrations, so if your roof is new, call the roofer first; some will install a flashed mount for a small fee and keep the warranty intact.
Metal roofs change the hardware. Standing-seam roofs take clamp-on brackets that grip the seam with no holes at all, which is the best outcome. Exposed-fastener metal panels can be drilled, but only through the high rib with gasketed screws, never in the flat valley where water runs.
Tile and slate crack under foot traffic and under a misplaced screw. This is the clearest case for a professional, or for skipping the roof entirely in favor of a wall or fascia mount on a tall extension arm.
Wall mounts are underrated. A long-arm wall mount on a two-story gable often puts the dish nearly as high as the ridge, with no roof work and a shorter cable route. It’s also easier to service later.
Starlink rates the current Standard dish to keep working in winds of 60 mph and up, lists a survivable rating of roughly 110 mph, an operating range of -22°F to 122°F, and a heater that can melt snow at up to about 1.5 inches per hour. In practice, the mount and the screws into your house are the weak point, not the dish. In hurricane country, plan to remove the dish before a major storm, and use a mount you can loosen in minutes.
What Starlink Installation Costs: DIY, Official and Local Installers
There are four realistic ways to get a dish installed, and the price spread between them is wider than most people expect. The plan you pick changes the answer more than the house does.
| Route | Labor cost | What you get | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstand DIY | $0 | Dish in the yard or on a deck | Clear yards, renters, testing | Exposed to mowers, pets and drifting snow |
| Mounted DIY | $0 plus parts | Permanent roof, wall or pole mount | Handy owners of one-story homes | Ladder risk; roof warranty questions |
| Official install, 200 Mbps or Max | Listed as free | Site assessment, standard mount, cable to nearest entry, activation | Almost anyone who needs height | Standard job only; complex runs may cost extra |
| Official install, 100 Mbps | Reported at $199 | Same standard job | Budget plan users who want it done right | Confirm the fee at checkout |
| Independent installer | Commonly $200–$500+ | Custom mounts, long runs, conduit, grounding | Tall homes, tile roofs, outbuildings | Quality varies; check license and insurance |
The pricing surprise right now is how much the plan decides. Starlink’s own residential page lists “free professional home installation” as a feature of both Residential 200 Mbps at $85 a month and Residential Max at $130 a month. If you were going to pay an installer $250 anyway, choosing the 200 Mbps plan over the 100 Mbps plan for a few months can cost less than the install alone. Plans can be changed later in the app, so it’s worth checking the terms at checkout before deciding.
According to Starlink’s help center, a standard professional installation includes a site assessment on the day, a technician choosing the dish location, mounting with a standard home mount, routing the cable to the home’s nearest entry point, connecting the router at that entry point, and activating and testing the service with an app walkthrough. Deinstallation isn’t supported. Note the phrase “nearest entry point”: if you want the router in a back bedroom or the cable run inside walls to a second floor, that is outside the standard job, and you should ask OnTech what it costs before the appointment.
Hardware is the other variable. The Standard kit lists at $349 to buy, while Starlink advertises “no upfront hardware cost in select areas” on residential plans, so check the price for your exact address. The new, smaller Starlink V5 dish has been offered in select areas since July, so far mostly as a rental tied to residential service. And the first-generation Starlink Mini was recently advertised at $149 in the U.S., a big cut from earlier pricing.
Ask for a written quote that names the mount, the cable length, how the cable enters the house, whether they seal and flash roof penetrations, and whether grounding is included. Ask for proof of liability insurance; a fall or a cracked tile on your property is a bad time to find out they have none. A legitimate installer will also tell you plainly if your site needs a tall mast or a tree trimmed, rather than promising perfect service from any spot.
Which Situation Sounds Like Yours?
The standard advice assumes a detached house, a clear backyard and an owner happy on a ladder. Plenty of households aren’t that. Here is how the install changes for the most common exceptions.
The FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices rule protects your right to install a dish one meter or less in diameter on property you own or exclusively control, such as your own roof, yard, patio or balcony. Every current Starlink residential dish is well under that size. An HOA can still set reasonable rules, like preferring a back-roof location, but it generally can’t ban the dish, impose unreasonable delays or costs, or require a placement that blocks your signal.
Practical move: send the HOA a short written notice with a photo of the planned location, and keep a copy. If they push back on a spot that’s the only one with clear sky, explain that in writing. The FCC accepts petitions and questions about the rule, and its consumer line is 1-888-225-5322.
The same FCC rule covers renters, but only in areas you alone use, like a balcony, patio or fenced private yard. A landlord can prohibit drilling into exterior walls or putting anything on a shared roof, because those aren’t yours. That’s why renters lean on no-drill options: the kickstand on a balcony, a weighted or railing-clamp mount, or a pipe adapter on a freestanding tripod. Balconies facing the wrong direction or tucked under the floor above are the common dead end; test with the app before you commit.
The Starlink Mini is often the cleanest renter answer. It’s small enough for a railing mount, needs no separate router, and comes with you when you move.
This is the situation where we’d skip DIY roof work outright. Ladder falls send well over a hundred thousand Americans to emergency rooms each year, and many of the worst injuries happen at modest heights. If you’re on the 200 Mbps or Max plan, the official install is listed as free; if you’re on the 100 Mbps plan, the reported $199 fee is a small price compared with a broken wrist or hip. A family member can also handle the ground steps, like testing on the kickstand, while a pro does the climbing.
Heavy tree cover is the single hardest Starlink install, and it’s usually solved by height rather than better mounts. Options, from cheapest up: find a clearing on the property and run a longer official cable to it; mount on the tallest part of the roof; use a tall mast or a tree-mounted pole above the canopy line; or selectively trim a few limbs in the dish’s direction. The clearance tool above helps you see which trees actually matter. Many rural owners find that only one or two trees sit in the critical direction.
Starlink’s own guidance says users in lightning-prone areas should install appropriate lightning protection in line with their local electrical code. In the U.S., the National Electrical Code’s Article 810 covers grounding and bonding of antenna masts. For a roof or pole mount, that typically means bonding the metal mast to the home’s grounding system with a properly sized conductor. Many owners also add an outdoor-rated surge protector on the dish cable before it enters the house. A licensed electrician can do this in an hour or two, and it’s cheap insurance in states like Florida where storms roll in most summer afternoons.
Thin roof skins and light framing make roof mounts risky on many manufactured homes. A ground pole set in concrete a short distance from the home, or a mount on a sturdy porch post, avoids the roof entirely. Bring the cable in through the skirting or an existing utility opening and keep it off the ground where it can be chewed or crushed. If you rent the lot, check the park rules, and remember the OTARD rule still protects areas under your exclusive control.
Flat roofs are often perfect for sky view and terrible for penetrations. A non-penetrating ballast mount, a weighted frame that sits on a protective pad, avoids holes in the membrane. Make sure it’s heavy enough for local wind, keep it away from roof drains, and in a condo or commercial building, get written approval first, because the roof is almost always a common area.
The dish melts snow that lands on it, but it can’t melt a drift building around it. Mount high enough that roof slides and plow piles can’t bury it, and avoid placing it under a roof edge where snow and ice fall. The heater draws more power in winter, which matters if you’re running off solar or a generator. The kickstand is a poor winter choice anywhere snow accumulates.
Satellite operators won roughly one in five locations in the federal BEAD broadband program, and Starlink signed agreements in several states, including Texas, Ohio and Louisiana. BEAD rules require low-Earth-orbit providers to supply equipment at no cost to eligible locations, though monthly service isn’t necessarily discounted. If your address is on your state’s funded list, contact your state broadband office before buying a kit, because you may be paying for something you’d get free.
Install for the season you’re there least. A dish that works in a bare-tree October may struggle in July. Use a mount you can remove or tilt flat before storms, and run the cable so it can be disconnected and capped indoors. If the property sits empty for months, ask about pausing or downgrading service in the app rather than cancelling, which can be cheaper than reactivating later.
Standard, V5 or Mini: The Dish You’re Installing Changes the Job
Three dishes show up in U.S. homes right now, and they differ in weight, power and cabling. Those differences matter more for installation than the speed numbers do.
| Dish | Weight | Average power | Router | Install notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (V4) | About 6.4 lb without cable | About 75–100 W | Separate Gen 3 router | The default home kit; 15 m cable included, longer official cable sold |
| Starlink V5 | About 2.4 lb | About 35–50 W | Router Mini included | Select areas only; comes with a pipe adapter; not for in-motion use |
| Starlink Mini | About 2.4 lb | Typically 25–40 W | Built into the dish | Runs on a 100 W USB-C power source; 15 m DC cable in the kit |
For a typical grid-connected house, the difference between 55 and 25 kWh a month is a few dollars on the electric bill. For an off-grid cabin, an RV used as a home, or a household that wants internet through outages on a battery or generator, it’s the difference between a small battery bank lasting a day and lasting half a day. That’s where the V5 and Mini earn their place, and why the Mini’s ability to run from a 100-watt USB-C power bank or station is so popular as a backup.
One installation detail separates them sharply: the Standard kit’s router must sit indoors within reach of the power supply, while the Mini carries its router inside the dish. With a Mini, the only thing coming into the house is a power cable, and your Wi-Fi starts outdoors, so place it where the signal can actually reach your rooms or add a mesh unit. Starlink also notes that the V5 is not meant for use while moving, so it isn’t an RV-on-the-road dish.
On the satellite side, Starlink began launching its larger third-generation satellites at the end of September, which the company says will substantially increase network capacity. That doesn’t change anything about your mount, but it’s a reason to install for the long haul rather than treat the dish as temporary.
When a Starlink Install Goes Wrong
Most installation problems fall into a handful of patterns, and nearly all of them have a next move that doesn’t involve tearing everything down.
| What’s happening | Likely cause | Try this first | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video calls freeze for a few seconds | Obstruction in the dish’s view | Check the obstruction map in the app | Raise the dish or move it away from the culprit |
| Worse service since spring | Leaves filled in the sky cone | Re-run the obstruction check | Trim limbs or move to a higher mount |
| Cable won’t reach the router | Long route or wrong entry point | Move the router near the entry | Order the official longer cable |
| “Disconnected” with all lights dead | Damaged cable or unplugged power supply | Reseat both cable ends, check for chewing or crushing | Contact support in the app for a replacement |
| Water stain near the entry | No drip loop or unsealed hole | Add a drip loop and reseal outside | Inspect the wall cavity for moisture |
| Weak Wi-Fi in far rooms | Router at the edge of the house | Elevate the router, away from metal | Add a Starlink mesh node or wired access point |
| HOA violation notice | Board unaware of the FCC rule | Reply in writing citing the OTARD rule | FCC petition if the HOA won’t relent |
| Installer no-show or reschedule | Scheduling or kit delivery | Call OnTech at (844) 800-7332 | Use the Starlink app for account issues |
Search results for Starlink installation phone numbers are crowded with independent companies, some excellent, some not. None of them is Starlink. Starlink handles account and technical support through its app and website, and its U.S. installation partner is OnTech. Be wary of anyone asking for payment by gift card, wire transfer or crypto, asking for your Starlink account password, or claiming you must pay them to “activate” a dish. Activation happens in your own app.
Our Verdict
The kickstand test shows clear sky, or the only work needed is a wall mount or a pivot mount on a single-story shingle roof, you’re comfortable on a ladder, and the cable route fits inside 49 feet with room to spare.
You’re on the 200 Mbps or Max plan, where it’s listed as free, or the job means a second-story roof, a ladder you’d rather not climb, or you simply want it done once and done right. Ask ahead about anything beyond a standard job.
You need a tall mast above trees, a long run to an outbuilding, conduit through walls, a tile or slate roof, or proper grounding in lightning country, all of which fall outside a standard install.
Questions people still ask
How long does a Starlink installation take?
A kickstand setup takes minutes. A DIY roof or wall mount is usually an afternoon, including cable routing and sealing. A professional standard installation is typically a couple of hours.
Is there a Starlink installation manual or PDF?
Yes. Starlink publishes setup guides for each kit and each official mount in its support center, and the app includes the same steps. Download the guide for your exact kit, because the Standard, V5 and Mini differ.
Can I move the dish after it’s installed?
Yes. On residential plans, service is tied to your service address, so moving it around the same property is fine; moving to a new address is done through the app. Mount screws can be filled and sealed if you relocate the dish.
Does Starlink need to be grounded?
Starlink advises users in lightning-prone areas to install lightning protection under local electrical code, and NEC Article 810 governs mast bonding. A licensed electrician can confirm what your jurisdiction requires.
Can I put the dish in a window or attic?
Generally no. Glass coatings, roofing and framing block or weaken the signal. The dish is built to live outdoors with a direct view of the sky.
What does Starlink installation near me cost compared with doing it myself?
DIY costs nothing but parts, often under $200 for a permanent mount. Official installation is listed as free on the 200 Mbps and Max plans and has been reported at $199 on the 100 Mbps plan. Local installers commonly quote a few hundred dollars depending on height and complexity.
How this page was checked. Plan prices and installation terms were checked against Starlink’s U.S. residential plans page and help center on October 22. Dish specifications come from Starlink’s published kit specifications and its V5 announcement. HOA and renter rights come from the FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices rule. Grounding guidance reflects Starlink’s lightning notice and NEC Article 810. BEAD details come from state award announcements. Cable budgets, clearance distances and energy estimates are our own calculations. Prices and availability change often; your checkout page is the final word.
This page is independent and is not affiliated with SpaceX, Starlink or OnTech. It is general information, not electrical, roofing or legal advice.
Key sources: Starlink · Federal Communications Commission · National Electrical Code (NFPA 70) · NTIA BEAD Program