SpaceX Introduces Starlink Mini - A Look at Its Specs and Potential for Tesla Integration

June 18, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Elon Musk introduced the Starlink Mini on X recently, and showed off a few of its unique new features.

We’ve updated this article with additional Starlink information such as pricing and mobile data plan.

SpaceX has now officially begun sales of the Starlink Mini to select early customers.

Specs

The Starlink Mini is about the size of a 14” laptop or Macbook, which means it is ultra-portable and can fit inside a backpack for easy carry. While it doesn’t appear to support power over USB-C, it does come with a 12V barrel jack and RJ45 Ethernet jack, as well as built-in Wi-Fi support. As for the Wi-Fi support, expect Wi-Fi 6 with 802.11ax and 3x3 MiMO support on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands. It has also been confirmed to have mesh support, which means you can link multiple Starlink Minis or Starlinks together to create a mesh Wi-Fi network.

The Starlink Mini will be 63% lighter than the standard Starlink dish, and about the size of a piece standard-sized paper.

Price

The most interesting part of this is the fact that it is expected to cost half of what current Starlink dishes cost – so within the $250 to $300 USD price range. Elon Musk, while unclear, also implied that the subscription price would also be lower for the Starlink Mini, enabling more affordable internet access.

For now, the United States limited offering places the price at $599.

SpaceX’s goal is to reduce the forward-looking price of the Mini, especially for regions around the world where connectivity is unaffordable or unavailable. However, in regions with high Starlink saturation - like North America, Starlink Mini places additional demand on the satellite network.

Roam Data Service

The Starlink Mini features a “Mini Roam” service, which is an additional $30/mo for 50GB of Mobile data that can be used anywhere in the United States, and is $1/GB for additional data. The Mini Roam service requires you to continue your regular Residential Starlink Service, even while roaming.

Speed

Of course, with a loss in size also comes a loss in speed – even if it’s still blazing fast. The Starlink Mini seemed to cap out at around 100 Mbps at a latency of 23ms, which is about half as fast as the top speeds for a regular Starlink dish, but with similar latency.

Even with the loss of speed, this is still more than fast enough to play video games and stream 4K video. Perhaps not at the same time, but the Mini is clearly designed for a single user.

Update: The Starlink Mini is indeed capped to 100Mbps max download speeds.

Starlink for Tesla?

The Mini is a good first step for possibly bringing Starlink capabilities to Tesla cars, which Elon Musk confirmed in 2022. Some enterprising users have either suction-cupped or mounted their starlinks to their glass Tesla roofs, or with special mounts for the Cybertruck already. The Mini will be a key item for going camping in your Tesla in the future - perhaps with the new Model Y Air Mattress!

Tesla could one day offer Starlink connectivity in Teslas, either as a backup to cellular connectivity or as a main source. However, Starlink connectivity requires line-of-sight, which likely means that Tesla would still require a cellular connection in their vehicles for times when vehicles don’t have a clear view of the sky. Using Starlink could help lower Tesla’s bandwidth costs and improve connectivity in remote areas.

Interestingly enough, some Superchargers already have Starlink functionality, with a transparent experience of vehicles automatically connecting to Supercharger Wi-Fi for data, including for Software Updates!

Release Dates

Musk mentioned that while the Starlink Mini isn’t available just yet, it will be rolling out to select areas in the next few months. Nothing further has emerged on where these areas are, but we could expect them to be in North America, where Starlink has done most of the new dish testing, such as with the more recent Starlink Flat High-Performance dishes.

Update: Starlink Mini has begun rolling out to early Starlink customers in the United States. No word yet on other regions.

Tesla Says 12V Power Socket Access Will Not Return With Sentry Mode

October 9, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

It turns out that the big undocumented change in Tesla update 2024.32 that disables the 12V power and USB ports while Sentry Mode is active is not a bug but an intentional change.

A fan contacted Tesla Service to see if the change was intentional and what the reason behind the change was. Surprisingly, they received a response pretty quickly.

No 12V Power Access

Tesla has decided to restrict 12V power access for safety reasons—namely, to “reduce the likelihood of thermal events” when third-party devices are left powered on without users present. Tesla reached out to the fan in question by phone, and they seemed to be sticking to that line.

It seems that Tesla is resolute that it was due to safety reasons and that the change would not be “fixed” or allowed in a future software update – as this was an intentional change for safety reasons.

Other sources have reported that the change was due to potential misuse of the 12V power access, with people wiring 1200w microwaves and kettles or jury-rigging 240v to 120v adapters, which had apparently been the cause of multiple fires in Tesla vehicles within China.

Workarounds

There are a couple workarounds, although neither are ideal. You can tap in to the vehicle’s 12v line directly to power your accessories, or you can use Camp Mode.

If you choose to enable Camp Mode, then you’ll need to manually lock the car from the app since walk-away door locking is disabled with Camp Mode. However, Camp Mode will use extra energy to keep the climate system enabled.

We’re still hoping Tesla considers bringing the Cybertruck’s Power Control menu to the rest of its vehicles and is somehow able to limit the max draw from these outlets to prevent dangerous situations.

Join Our Tesla Robotaxi Event Prediction Contest

October 9, 2024

By Karan Singh

Tesla

With the Robotaxi event just a day away, we thought it would be a fun idea to run a contest to predict what Tesla will announce tomorrow evening.

We’ve outlined a list of questions below; simply answer them on our forums or social media (X or Threads), and be entered for a chance to win some great prizes.

The individuals who have the most correct answers will win one of five prizes mentioned below. If more than five people get them all right, a random drawing will be held from the pool of winners.

We’ll reach out to the winners either by email or by DM on social media.

The Questions

Will Tesla let attendees experience Robotaxi at the event?
Will Tesla first start the network with human supervision (ridesharing), or with Robotaxis only?
What year will the network start? When will it become fully autonomous? (if announced)
When will Robotaxi production begin? (if announced)
Will it be Robotaxi or Cybercab?
Which of these Robotaxi Concepts will be the closest to the one announced?
Will Robotaxi include:
1. Front-facing camera?
2. Stainless-steel body?
3. Steer-by-Wire or No Steering Wheel? (if announced)
4. Which current Tesla model has the most similar door-opening mechanism?
5. How many seats will the robotaxi have?
Will the robotaxi include AI5/Hardware 5, HW4 or something completely different?
Where will Tesla’s first Rideshare/Robotaxi location be established?
Will customers be able to purchase a Robotaxi?

Requirements

Please use the template below to answer the questions on social media or in our forums. You can post your answer as a comment to our forums, to our X post, or to our Threads post.

Once you do that, repost or quote post your favorite article from us.

1. Yes

2. Ridesharing

3. 2025/2027

4. 2025

5. Cybercab

6. Dominic's

7. Yes, Yes, SBW, No, 2

8. HW5

9. LA

10. Yes

Prizes

Prizes are generously provided by Enhance and Jowua, makers of some of the best Tesla accessories and amazing Tesla community members. Prizes will be mailed out directly by them. Winners will get to choose their prize from the list below. First place will have the first pick and so on. There will be five winners in total.

S3XY Buttons (including a commander and wiring)
S3XY Knob for Model 3/Y
Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)
Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)
Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)

Disclaimer

This is a Tesla event, and Tesla normally likes to hold their cards close to their chest. If an answer is ambiguous, we’ll go with the best choice decided by our staff. We’ll do our best to be fair. This

With all that said, we wish our entrants the best of luck, and we’ll announce the winners at the end of the week.