“It keeps dropping” can mean half a dozen different things on Starlink. A two-second freeze on a Zoom call every few minutes has a completely different cause from a connection that dies for fifteen minutes in the middle of the night, or one that falls over every time it rains, or one that goes dark at the same hour every evening. The quickest route to a fix is to notice the pattern first: how long each drop lasts, how often it happens, and whether it lines up with the weather, the time of day or something you plugged in. This guide is built around those patterns, with the fixes that actually work for each one, including the less obvious causes like a sleep schedule someone switched on, a Mini that isn’t getting enough power, and VPNs that disconnect even when Starlink itself hasn’t.
Eight Quick Answers
The questions people type most often when Starlink won’t stay connected. Each one is covered in depth further down.
Almost always an obstruction. As satellites move across the sky, one passes behind a tree or roofline and the dish loses it briefly. The app’s obstruction map shows exactly where.
Starlink installs software updates overnight, usually between about 1 and 4 am local time by default. You can move that window in the app’s software update settings.
Check whether a sleep schedule is switched on in the app. While the dish sleeps, Wi-Fi stays up but there’s no internet, which looks exactly like a disconnect.
Heavy rain and storms can cause brief slowdowns or drops, but light rain rarely does. If every shower knocks you offline, look for a borderline obstruction that’s being tipped over the edge.
Open the app. It reports network outages and shows whether your dish is offline, obstructed or fine. If neighbours and social media are also reporting problems, it’s on Starlink’s side.
Most often, power. The Mini pulls a brief surge when it starts up and when it reacquires satellites. A weak USB-C supply, a sagging 12-volt outlet or a thin cable can make it restart over and over.
Starlink uses shared, changing public IP addresses on most residential plans. Some VPNs and apps treat an address change as a new connection and log you out, even with no real outage.
No. Support runs through tickets in the app or your starlink.com account. Attach screenshots of the obstruction map and event log to speed things up.
Read the Pattern Before You Touch Anything
Spend one day noting when drops happen and how long they last. That alone usually narrows the cause to one or two possibilities.
| What you notice | Most likely cause | Where to confirm | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freezes of a few seconds, several times an hour | Obstruction | Obstruction map, statistics | Move or raise the dish |
| One 10–15 minute drop in the early hours | Software update | Event log | Move the update window |
| No internet the same hours every day | Sleep schedule | Settings → Starlink → Sleep Schedule | Turn it off or change the times |
| Drops during storms or heavy snow | Weather, often plus a marginal view | Alerts, snow melt setting | Clear view, snow melt on Automatic |
| Drops on hot afternoons | Thermal limits | App alerts | Shade or airflow, especially for the power supply |
| Hours offline, neighbours too | Network outage | App’s outage notice | Wait; use a phone hotspot |
| Mini restarts repeatedly | Not enough power | Event log reboots | Stronger supply, shorter or thicker cable |
| Only one device drops | Wi-Fi, not Starlink | Other devices stay online | Move closer, mesh, or Ethernet |
The last row matters more than it looks. If your laptop in the back bedroom keeps dropping but the phone next to the router is fine, Starlink isn’t disconnecting at all; your Wi-Fi is. That’s a range problem, fixed with router placement, a mesh node or a cable, and none of the satellite advice below will help.
The Three App Screens That Answer Most Questions
Your phone needs to be on your Starlink Wi-Fi for the app to read your dish and router directly.
It shows the patch of sky your dish uses. Blue marks where it has successfully seen satellites, red marks where something blocked them, and blank areas haven’t been covered yet. The map takes around six hours after the dish boots to fill in properly, so check it the next day rather than straight after moving the dish. A few red specks near the edge may not matter; a solid red band on one side does.
The statistics view charts outages over time and labels the reason for each, such as obstruction, no satellites, network issue, booting or thermal shutdown. That label is the single most useful clue on this page. If the chart is full of “obstructed,” move the dish. If it shows “network issue” at times when your dish has a clear view, the problem is on Starlink’s side.
Starlink replaced its older outage log with a broader event log. As reported when it launched, it records major satellite connectivity disruptions, service outages caused by the router being switched off or disconnected, major packet loss and reboots on the Starlink Mini. Screenshot it before you contact support; it’s the evidence that gets tickets taken seriously.
Obstructions: The Cause Behind Most “Keeps Dropping” Complaints
Starlink satellites move fast across the sky, and your dish switches between them constantly. Anything that blocks part of its view causes a short gap each time a satellite passes behind it.
Obstruction matters for a lot of people. In the Speedify Starlink Index, which tracks thousands of dishes used with Speedify’s bonding software, 8.7% of dishes had more than a tenth of their sky blocked. Those were the dishes dragging the averages down: in the same dataset, half of all dishes dropped no test pings at all, while the worst one in a hundred dropped more than a third of them.
How to fix an obstruction properly
- In the app, use the obstruction check with your phone’s camera from the exact spot and height where the dish will sit. Hold the phone where the dish’s face will be, not at chest height.
- Check in the season with the most leaves. A clear scan in winter can turn red in May.
- Try moving the dish a few metres before going higher. Sometimes the far side of the house or the other end of the garden is clear.
- If that fails, go up: a pole, a gable bracket or the roof ridge. Every metre of height clears more of the horizon.
- After moving it, wait for the obstruction map to rebuild over about six hours before judging the result.
- Revisit once a year. Trees grow, and a neighbour’s new extension or a satellite dish on your own roof can creep into the view.
Thin things count too: power lines, flagpoles, chimney stacks and the edge of your own gutter. And trimming one branch can be enough. If the map shows a small red wedge in one direction, look along that line from the dish; you’ll often find a single limb causing it.
Overnight Drops, Software Updates and the Sleep Schedule
Two built-in features cause predictable, scheduled drops that are easy to mistake for faults.
Starlink pushes software updates to dishes and routers regularly, with no fixed calendar. One reviewer’s Gen 3 dish logged 15 updates in about three and a half months. By default they install overnight, usually between roughly 1 and 4 am local time, and a reboot interrupts the connection for several minutes; a manual update has been reported at about 10 to 15 minutes. If you work night shifts, stream overseas sports live, or run security cameras that must stay online, change the window: in the app go to Settings → Starlink → Software Updates and pick a different six-hour slot.
The sleep schedule puts the dish to sleep for one window a day to save power. In DISHYtech’s test, a Gen 3 dish dropped from 64 W to 25 W while asleep. While it sleeps, your Wi-Fi network stays up, so devices show full Wi-Fi bars but get no internet, exactly the symptom people describe as “disconnecting.” The dish also stops heating, so snow isn’t melted during sleep. You can change or disable it under Settings → Starlink → Sleep Schedule, but only while connected to your Starlink Wi-Fi. If you’re away from home and it was switched on by mistake, you’ll have to wait for the scheduled wake time.
Rain, Snow, Wind and Heat
Weather does affect Starlink, but it’s blamed far more often than it deserves. A dish with a clear view rides out most weather with only brief hiccups.
Intense rain weakens the signal and can cause short slowdowns or drops, especially in storm cells. Light rain rarely matters. If every shower takes you offline, the weather is usually exposing a borderline obstruction or a dish that’s barely holding a signal, and fixing the view fixes the “rain problem.”
The dish can warm itself to shed snow. In the app, Settings → Starlink → Snow melt offers Automatic (the default, which heats only when precipitation degrades the signal), Pre-heat (warms the surface ahead of a known storm) and Off. In snowy places, keep it on Automatic and switch to Pre-heat before a big storm. Note that heating uses more power, the sleep schedule pauses heating, and the Mini, with the smallest power budget, can struggle to keep up in heavy snow. Mount the dish where snow sliding off a roof won’t bury it.
In very hot weather the app can report a thermal shutdown: the dish protects itself and goes offline until it cools. Starlink’s current dishes and routers are rated to roughly 50°C (122°F) in published specifications, so this mostly bites in desert summers or when equipment sits in a sealed, sun-baked spot. Don’t cover the dish with anything to shade it. Do keep the power supply and router indoors or in shade with airflow, never in a closed metal box in the sun.
A dish on a flimsy pole that sways in gusts loses lock repeatedly, and a kickstand dish can blow over. Mount it rigidly, use the right mount for your setup, and after any storm, check that it’s still level and pointing where it was.
Power and Cable Problems That Cause Repeated Drops
These cause some of the most stubborn “keeps disconnecting” cases, because the dish genuinely reboots rather than just losing a satellite.
Loose or damaged cables. A connector that isn’t fully seated can lose contact as the cable flexes in wind or as temperatures change. Unplug and firmly reseat every connection: the dish cable at both ends, and on a Gen 3 kit, the Ethernet cable from the power supply into the router’s Port 1. Walk the cable’s length looking for kinks, crushing under a window or door, and chew marks from rodents or pets. Starlink cables are proprietary; replace a damaged one rather than splicing it.
Power strips, extension leads and generators. Plug the power supply straight into a wall outlet as a test. Cheap surge strips, long extension cords and some inverters or generators deliver unstable power, which causes restarts. If you lose mains power often, a small UPS (battery backup) keeps the dish and router up through short cuts and smooths brownouts.
Rebooting by family members. If someone “fixes” slow internet by unplugging the router, the event log will show a router outage. Starlink takes several minutes to come back after a power cycle, so frequent unplugging creates more downtime than it solves.
The Mini runs on far less power than the Standard dish, which tempts people to power it from whatever is handy: a car’s USB port, a power bank, a long, thin 12-volt lead. The trouble is the brief surge at startup and when it reacquires satellites. A supply that handles 25 watts fine but sags at 100 will make the Mini reboot, sometimes over and over. Use the Starlink power supply, or a USB-C supply and cable rated for 100-watt Power Delivery, or a regulated, boosted DC feed in a vehicle. Keep 12-volt runs short and use thicker wire. The event log will show the reboots, which confirms the diagnosis.
RVs, Vans, Boats and the Starlink Mini
Mobile setups disconnect more than fixed ones, and that’s normal to a degree. In the Speedify sample, dishes on RVs, boats and portable setups averaged about 61 minutes offline a day, against 37 for fixed dishes.
The usual culprits on the road are campsites under trees, dishes set up at an angle on uneven ground, and power supplies that sag when other loads switch on. Before parking for the night, open the app’s obstruction check and pick the spot with the clearest sky, even if it’s a few metres from the ideal pitch. Lay a kickstand dish on firm, level ground, or use a proper mount.
Driving adds its own drops. Starlink publishes rules on which plans and hardware support in-motion use; using a dish on the move where your plan doesn’t allow it can mean poorer performance. Passing under bridges, through tunnels or along tree-lined roads will always cause gaps, whatever the plan.
Check your data allowance too. On a capped travel plan, the connection slows sharply once the high-speed allowance is used up. That can feel like a dropout on video calls even though you’re technically still connected.
When Calls, VPNs and Games Drop but Starlink Doesn’t
Sometimes the app shows no outage at all, yet Teams kicks you out, the VPN reconnects every hour, or a game boots you mid-match. These are about how Starlink connects you to the internet, not about the satellites.
On most residential plans, Starlink uses carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT): many customers share public IPv4 addresses, and the address you appear from can change. Some corporate VPNs, banking sites and security tools treat a changed address as suspicious and end the session. If that’s happening, ask your IT team whether the VPN supports reconnecting automatically, or switching to a protocol that tolerates address changes better. Testing over a phone hotspot is a quick way to show IT the problem is the network path, not your laptop.
A two-second freeze that recovers by itself is the signature of a short obstruction or a satellite handoff. Calls can’t buffer, so they show every gap. Wire the computer to the router with Ethernet if you can, which rules out Wi-Fi as a second cause, and fix any red on the obstruction map. For calls that truly matter, some remote workers run bonding software that combines Starlink with a mobile connection so either one can carry the call.
Games are the least forgiving of short gaps and latency spikes. Use Ethernet, keep the obstruction map clean, and avoid busy evening hours for ranked play if your plan has lower priority at peak times. A “strict” or “moderate” NAT warning on a console comes from CGNAT, not from a fault, and the Starlink router has no port-forwarding settings to change it.
If everything else stays online, it’s that device’s Wi-Fi. Move it closer, add a mesh node, or connect it with a cable. Smart-home gadgets that keep falling off often need a dedicated 2.4 GHz network; the app lets you split the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Also check the device’s own power-saving settings, which on some laptops and phones switch Wi-Fi off when idle.
Less Obvious Causes Worth Ruling Out
If the usual suspects check out, one of these is often behind it.
A connection that crawls at 8 pm and recovers by midnight is congestion, not dropping. Starlink’s lower-priced residential tiers cap your speed and give you lower network priority than its top tier when a local cell is busy. Buffering video feels like a disconnect, but the app will show the dish online. Run a speed test in the morning and again in the evening on a wired device. If the gap is large and consistent, a higher-priority plan or shifting big downloads to off-peak hours is the fix; moving the dish won’t help.
Residential service is tied to the service address on your account. If you’ve moved house, or taken the dish to a cabin on a home plan, update the address in your account or switch to a travel plan. Using it away from the registered address can mean limited or unreliable service, which shows up as random drops even with a perfect view of the sky.
With a third-party mesh or router plugged in, check whether bypass mode is on. Without it you have two routers stacked (double NAT), which some games, VPNs and smart-home hubs handle badly. With it on, your router should restart after Starlink restarts so it picks up a fresh address; some routers don’t do this cleanly after an overnight update and sit offline until rebooted. If drops line up with Starlink’s update window, that’s the giveaway. Updating your router’s firmware often fixes it.
People sometimes put a Mini on a windowsill or under an awning to keep it out of the weather. Glass, especially low-emissivity glass with a metal coating, and metal or wet fabric canopies weaken the signal and can make it drop. The dish is weatherproof; put it outside with a clear view.
Mounting the dish right next to other antennas, a cellular booster’s outdoor antenna or high-power radio equipment can cause trouble, and so can placing it where a passing vehicle or a swinging gate keeps entering its view. Give the dish a few metres of clear space around it, and keep its cable away from high-voltage wiring.
The 24-hour log that settles it
If you can’t tell which pattern you have, spend one day logging it. Note the time and rough length of every drop you notice, and what was happening: weather, time of day, who was online, whether anything was switched on or off. The next morning, compare your notes with the app’s statistics and event log. Drops the app labels “obstructed” mean the dish’s view. Drops the app doesn’t record at all usually mean the problem is inside your home: Wi-Fi, a device, or your own router. Drops listed as “network issue” while your view is clear are Starlink’s side, and that’s exactly the evidence support needs.
If You Can’t Afford Any Drops: Backup Options
For remote work, medical alert systems or a home business, fixing Starlink is only half the job. Every connection fails sometimes, so plan a second path.
| Backup | Covers | Typical cost | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone hotspot | Starlink outages, if you have mobile signal | Often included in your phone plan | Occasional urgent calls |
| Small UPS (battery backup) | Short power cuts and brownouts | One-off purchase | Anyone with flickering power |
| Router with automatic failover | Switches to a mobile modem when Starlink drops | Router plus a data plan | Home offices |
| Bonding service | Combines Starlink and mobile so calls survive short gaps | Monthly subscription | Live streaming, critical calls |
Whichever you choose, test it before you need it: pull the Starlink power supply for a minute during a quiet afternoon and confirm your backup actually takes over. A UPS is the most overlooked of these. Starlink takes several minutes to come back after losing power, so even a two-second flicker can cost you five minutes of internet. A modest battery unit sized for the dish and router keeps them running straight through.
Checking for Outages, and Getting Help
Large Starlink outages are rare but real. On July 24, 2025, a failure in core network software took the service down globally for about two and a half hours, with more than 61,000 reports on Downdetector. A shorter global disruption followed on September 15, 2025.
When something big happens, the app usually shows an outage notice, news coverage follows quickly, and outage-report sites fill up. In that situation, nothing you do at home helps. Don’t factory reset during an outage; you’ll only have to set up your Wi-Fi again afterwards. Switch to your phone’s hotspot for anything urgent.
If it’s only you, work through the patterns above, then open a support ticket. Starlink has no phone line for residential customers. The fastest tickets include: your dish and router model, screenshots of the obstruction map, the statistics view and the event log, what the drops look like (how long, how often, when), and what you’ve already tried. Ask specifically whether your hardware can be checked remotely; support can see diagnostics that you can’t.
Your options if the problem can’t be fixed
| Situation | What to ask for | Likely cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware fault confirmed by support | Warranty replacement | Usually none in warranty | Commonly 12 months for US residential kits |
| Site can’t get a clear view | Return within the trial period, or a different mount | Mount cost, if any | Starlink offers a 30-day trial on kits bought directly |
| Damaged cable | Replacement cable | Shop price | Animal and accidental damage generally not covered |
| Need reliability for work | Backup connection | Mobile hotspot or bonding service | No single connection is perfect |
A Monthly Two-Minute Check That Prevents Most Drops
- Open the obstruction map. Any new red? Look for a growing branch along that line.
- Glance at statistics for the past day. Lots of “obstructed” means it’s time to move or trim.
- Confirm the sleep schedule is set the way you want, and the update window suits your household.
- In winter, check snow melt is on Automatic. In summer, check the power supply isn’t baking in the sun.
- Look at the cable where it enters the house and anywhere animals can reach it.
Questions People Still Ask
Why does my Starlink keep disconnecting?
The most common cause is an obstruction such as trees or a roofline in the dish’s view, which causes short, frequent drops. Other causes include overnight software updates, a sleep schedule, severe weather, heat, power or cable problems, and occasional network outages.
Why does Starlink cut out for a few seconds?
Brief drops usually happen when a satellite passes behind something blocking part of the sky. The app’s obstruction map shows where the blockage is.
Why does Starlink go offline at night?
Software updates install overnight by default, usually between about 1 and 4 am local time. You can choose a different update window in the app.
Does weather affect Starlink?
Heavy rain, storms and snow can cause brief slowdowns or drops, and extreme heat can trigger a thermal shutdown. A dish with a clear view and snow melt on Automatic handles most weather well.
Why does my Starlink Mini keep restarting?
Usually insufficient power. The Mini draws a short surge when starting up; a supply or cable that can’t deliver it causes repeated reboots. Use a supply rated for that surge and a short, thick cable.
Does restarting Starlink fix disconnections?
Occasionally, if the dish or router is stuck after an update. But a restart takes several minutes to recover from, and it won’t fix obstructions, weather or power problems. Check the app’s statistics first; restarting often adds more downtime than it removes.
Will a Starlink mesh node stop the drops?
Only if the drops are Wi-Fi range problems in far rooms. A mesh node extends Wi-Fi inside the house; it does nothing for satellite drops caused by obstructions, weather or outages.
Is it normal for Starlink to drop sometimes?
Yes, brief drops happen even on good installations, and occasional network-wide outages occur. What isn’t normal is several drops an hour on a dish with a clear view; that’s worth fixing or reporting.
How do I report Starlink disconnections?
Open a support ticket in the Starlink app or at starlink.com. There’s no phone line. Include screenshots of the obstruction map, statistics and event log.
How this page was checked. App features and settings paths were compared against published walkthroughs and Starlink’s own guidance on October 21. Obstruction thresholds, update timing, sleep-mode power and snow-melt modes come from DISHYtech’s published guides; offline-time and dropped-ping figures come from the Speedify Starlink Index (a sample of Speedify users, collected September–October); outage details come from news coverage of the July and September 2025 events. Mini power figures come from a published power-requirements guide. Diagrams are our own; Figure 1 is illustrative, not measured.
This page is independent and is not affiliated with Starlink, SpaceX or Speedify. App menus change; if a label differs, look under the app’s Starlink or router settings.
Key sources: Starlink Help Center · DISHYtech · Speedify Starlink Index · Broadband Breakfast and The Register outage coverage