The new Starlink kit with the square dish and router doesn’t come with an Ethernet port. That’s makes it difficult to connect to an existing multi-building Ethernet. But we found a way.

Hub, Starlink router, BrosTrend RJ45 adapter; Speedtest.net

That’s the Starlink router on the left, and next to it a “BrosTrend Dual Band 1200Mbps WiFi Bridge, Convert Your Wired Device to Wireless Network, Works with Any Ethernet-Enabled Devices, WiFi to Ethernet Adapter with Standard RJ45 LAN Port, Easy Setup”. It cost $45.99. BrosTrend has various other models at lower or higher price that may or may not do the same job. We know this one works.

Starlink router, BrosTrend RJ45 adapter

And on the left you can see the yellow RJ45 cable from the BrosTrend plugged into a random Wireless hub. Antique ice skates not included.

That old hub then connects through a cable to another hub, which connects through a 400′ underground cable to another wireless hub in another building. Ditchwitch and PVC conduit; long story.

Wireless hub, Starlink router, BrosTrend RJ45 adapter

This speedtest was done through all of the above, from the other building.

Speedtest.net from another building through many devices and the BrosTrend bridge.

Sure, it’s not as fast as when connected directly to the Starlink wireless router:

Speedtest.net through the Starlink wireless router

Probably one or more of the hubs along the path between the buildings is squelching the speed. Probably one or more of them is limited to 100Mbps and isn’t really getting that. It’s not the old laptop I used for the distant speedtest: connected directly to the Starlink router it gets 188 Mbps down.

But 88Mbps down through all those devices is so much faster than anything else we can get around here, that it’s good enough.

Curiously, that 30Mbps up through all those devices is twice as fast as the 14.41 up through Starlink’s own router. That may just be variability through the day. Some time I may be interested enough to try enough tests to find out, but not today.

Starlink does sell an RJ45 adapter to plug into their setup, in front of their wireless router. We’ve paid the $20 to order, and it has shipped. We may or may not install it. Airgap seems like a useful thing in case of future troubleshooting, so we can so we have nothing plugged into the Starlink equipment.

Meanwhile, we found a way around their adapter taking three weeks to ship, and it’s good enough for now.

Sure, there are occasional dropouts due to trees nearby, but we have a plan to fix that if we need to: put the dish on a flagpole. So far, there’s no need. It’s so much more reliable than AT&T’s alleged 3Mbps DSL or Verizon’s Home Fusion, or any other wireless service we’ve tried. Thunderstorms are too much for it, sure. But the it’s right back working in light rain.

So that’s $99/month plus $500 for the kit, plus $20 or $50 for a way to connect an existing Ethernet to it.

For us it’s well worth the money. Your mileage may vary.

-jsq

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