The short answer
If your broadband is under about 10 Mbit/s and fibre isn't coming soon, yes, as long as the dish can see a big patch of open sky. If fibre is due within the year, wait for it. Either way, keep a 4G backup for the odd outage.
What it is
Broadband from a large and growing number of low-orbit satellites, through a dish about the size of a laptop that you mount outside. It needs power and a cable into the house, and nothing from the phone company.
Speeds vary with the time of day and how many people nearby use it, but on most rural sites it gives tens to a few hundred Mbit/s down, enough for video calls, streaming, the cameras and the farm office at once. The delay is low enough for video calls and online meetings.
Where the dish goes
Everything depends on this. The dish needs a wide, clear view of the sky, mostly towards the north in the UK, without trees, chimneys or barn roofs breaking it up. Starlink's own app has a sky-view check: hold your phone up where you'd mount it and it tells you how much is blocked.
On farms, the best spot is often a pole or the ridge of an outbuilding, with the cable run cleanly back to the house or office. A dish in the wrong place gives you drop-outs every few minutes, which is worse than slow.
Weather, power and other questions
- Snow: the dish warms itself and melts light snow off. Heavy, wet snow can still interrupt it.
- Heavy rain: can slow it or drop it briefly.
- Power: it uses about as much as an old-fashioned light bulb or two, all the time. Worth knowing if you're thinking about battery backup.
- Cost: a one-off charge for the kit and a monthly subscription. Both change often; check Starlink's site for the current prices for your address.
Starlink, 4G or wait for fibre?
- Fibre coming within a year: wait, or use 4G in the meantime. Fibre will be faster, cheaper and steadier.
- A strong 4G or 5G signal outside: an outdoor aerial and a good router may match Starlink for less. Check with the signal checker.
- Neither: Starlink, with 4G as a backup if any network reaches you at all.
Questions people ask
Does Starlink work for the landline after the switch-off?
Yes, a digital landline works over Starlink like any other broadband. Battery backup matters even more, because the dish needs power too.
Can I move the dish around the farm?
The standard dish is meant to stay put at your address. Roaming plans exist for moving it, at a different price.
Will it run the whole farm?
Usually, yes. The connection is shared across the network like any broadband, so one dish can feed the house, the office and, with a link, the outbuildings.
Checked October 2026.