Connectivity / Slow
Why satellite internet slows down, drops out, and stalls in bad weather — and the settings and placement fixes that actually help.
The 30-second fix
Check the dish for snow, dust, or a new obstruction (a growing tree) and clear it. Then run the app's own speed test. Most satellite slowdowns are obstruction or weather, not a setting.
If that sorted it, you are done. If not, keep reading — the rest takes about 15 minutes.
You do not need to reboot the dish to factory settings, or buy a new router. Most fixes are placement and weather.
"Satellite internet is slow" covers two very different faults, and they need different fixes.
The first is obstruction — something between your dish and the sky. The second is congestion and weather — the shared satellite link itself. The app tells you which one you have, so start there rather than guessing.
Starlink app obstruction view showing a mostly dark sky circle
Open the Starlink app and tap Obstructions. You are looking for a mostly dark circle. Any large red or orange blob is something in the way — a tree, a chimney, a pole.
HughesNet users: look for the signal strength and obstruction indicators in the HughesNet app or the modem's status page.
Snow being brushed off a satellite dish
Wet snow, ice, and dust are the most common culprits and the easiest to fix. Brush snow off the face of the dish — do not scrape at it with anything metal. Check that a tree has not grown into the line of sight since you installed it; that is a very common summer-to-winter change.
Speed test result screen in the satellite app
Use the speed test inside the app, not a website. It tests the satellite link itself, which is what you want to isolate. Then run a speed test on a device over Wi-Fi. If the app test is fast and the Wi-Fi test is slow, your problem is the Wi-Fi, not the satellite — go to boosting Wi-Fi across a large property.
A notebook with evening hours circled
Write down when it slows. If it is consistently 7pm to 11pm, that is congestion and there is no setting that fixes it — it is shared capacity. Knowing this saves you an hour of pointless fiddling.
Router placed on a shelf away from other electronics
If your router sits right on top of the dish's power brick, or next to a microwave or cordless phone base, move it. Those devices throw out interference on the same frequencies Wi-Fi uses.
Power brick being unplugged from a wall socket
Unplug the dish at the wall — not just the router — and leave it a full 60 seconds. Plug it back in and give it up to 15 minutes to re-acquire satellites. This clears the "it has been running for eight months" gremlins.
Ethernet cable running from the router to a laptop
Run an ethernet cable from the router directly to one laptop and test there. If it is still slow on a cable, the problem is the satellite link and no router change will help. If the cable is fast and Wi-Fi is slow, you have a Wi-Fi problem.
Being clear about those three stops you chasing a fix that does not exist — and tells you when a different technology (fixed wireless, fibre if it ever arrives, or a second connection for calls) is the real answer.
If none of that helped, it is usually a hardware or account problem rather than a settings one — and that is exactly the kind of thing worth handing to someone for an hour. Book a session →
If the steps above did not do it, that is what I am here for — remote, flat rate, plain language. You watch everything I do.
Book a session →REMOTE SESSIONS ONLY — ANYWHERE IN THE US — FLAT RATE, UP FRONT
Written from Montana, for the places where the nearest store is a drive and the nearest technician is you.
What latency actually means, in plain words · Rural Montana resilience and family support