Why Is My Starlink Slow? The Most Common Causes and Fixes

This is the most common call we get. Someone ordered Starlink, set it up themselves, and the speeds aren't what they expected. Or the connection works fine most of the time but drops out regularly. Or it was fast when first installed but has gotten worse.

In our experience across the Southern Highlands, slow or unreliable Starlink almost always comes down to one of these causes.

1. Dish obstruction

Starlink satellites move across the sky, so the dish needs a wide, clear view — not just directly overhead but across a significant arc. Even a single tree branch in the wrong spot can cause regular dropouts as satellites pass behind it.

Open your Starlink app and go to Settings → Obstruction. You'll see a heatmap of where your obstructions are. Even small red or orange areas can cause noticeable dropouts.

The fix is usually relocating the dish to a higher mounting point — on the roof ridge rather than the eave, or on a pole mount. This is the most common site visit we do.

2. Not running in bypass mode

This is the one that surprises people most. If your Starlink is using the Starlink-supplied router (the white unit that came in the box), you're limiting your own performance.

The Starlink router is a consumer-grade device with limited processing power. Configuring Starlink in bypass mode — feeding the connection into a better router — consistently delivers faster speeds, lower latency, and more reliable performance. We see meaningful speed improvements on almost every installation where we switch from stock router to bypass mode with a UniFi router.

Bypass mode also gives you full control of your network — proper firewall settings, VLAN segmentation, guest networks, and remote monitoring. None of that is possible with the stock Starlink router.

3. The problem is your WiFi, not Starlink

A very common scenario: Starlink is actually delivering excellent speeds — but the WiFi router or access points distributing it around the home are the bottleneck. You can test this by connecting a laptop directly to your router via an ethernet cable and running a speed test. If speeds are fast wired but slow on WiFi, Starlink isn't the issue.

Common WiFi culprits include: an older router that can't handle high speeds, too few access points for the size of the home, or access points in poor positions with thick walls or floors blocking the signal.

4. Network congestion in your area

Starlink speed does vary by time of day. During peak evening hours (roughly 7–9pm), speeds across the network can drop. This is normal and is gradually improving as Starlink adds more satellite capacity. If your speeds are consistently fine during the day but poor in the evenings, this is likely the cause — and it typically improves over time.

5. A hardware fault

Less common, but it happens. Starlink dishes can fail — particularly after being exposed to Australia's summer heat. Signs of hardware failure include the dish running very hot, inconsistent speeds that don't correlate with obstruction, or error codes in the Starlink app. If you've ruled out the above causes, it may be a warranty replacement situation.