SpaceX's Starlink users say their dishes have had lucky escapes with bears, bobcats, and floods: PHOTOS
- Elon Musk's Starlink dish has got face-to-face with animals and mother nature, users' photos show.
- Cats, bears, and bobcats have all been intrigued by Starlink terminals.
When signing up to SpaceX's internet service, users receive a kit which comprises of a WiFi router, a tripod, and a dish which connects to the satellites in orbit.
The dish, also known as "Dishy," comes as part of the $600 kit, while the standard Starlink subscription lies at $110 per month.
SpaceX in November 2021 updated the look of the Starlink dish from a circular shape to a rectangle, making it thinner and lighter than the original model.
Gwynne Shotwell, the president of SpaceX, said in April 2021 the company had reduced the manufacturing cost of each Starlink terminal from $3,000 to $1,500. Despite the high price, Starlink customers were only charged $499 for the kit, she added.
SpaceX advises users to position the Starlink dish in an open area with around 100 degrees of clear sky above it so it can connect to the satellites.
Leaving the dish out in the open means it's vulnerable to inquisitive creatures and mother nature — something which some Starlink users have fallen foul of.
Cats have found Starlink dishes to be a warm and cosy place to curl up, especially when there's snow on the ground.
Aaron Taylor, the owner of the dish and the cats pictured above, lives on a small farm in Alberta, Canada.
When the cats sat on top of the dish, the internet connection "really started to lag" and it was difficult to stream content, Taylor told Insider.
"The comments in the house would be 'the cats must be on the dish again' or 'go chase the cats off the dish,'" he said.
One Starlink user discovered a bear had got close to his dish after paw prints were left in the snow nearby.
John Vinci, a Starlink user based on a remote island in Alaska, took a picture on Saturday of paw prints in the snow around his internet dish.
He told Insider that where he lives has twice as many bears as humans in the area. The bears are Kodiak brown bears.
"I'm waiting for adapters to get it installed in a spot that the bears won't mess with it," Vinci said.
This Starlink dish had a close shave when the land surrounding it flooded.
Flooding happens regularly in Rumbley, Maryland, where this Starlink dish is based, according to owner Paul Young.
He told Insider that he's had to rescue his dish a few times and has run out of his house to grab it before the waters encroach.
"It's sitting on a natural mound of ground in the marsh. The community named it StarSink Island," Young said.
A bobcat was caught on camera sniffing around this Starlink dish at a campsite in Colorado.
The Starlink user who took this photo was playing on their Steam Deck with the help of Starlink internet while camping in Black Canyon National Park, when they saw a bobcat wandering around the campsite.
One Starlink user managed to strap the dish to a 100-foot-tall pine tree.
A Starlink user based in Arkansas told Insider they managed to strap the dish to the top of a pine tree for maximum efficiency.
The user said in the comments of a Reddit thread that the tree sways when there are gusts of wind, but it remains strong and sturdy.
Luckily no cars were driving around when this Starlink dish was placed in the middle of a parking lot.
This Starlink user told Insider they were carrying out speed tests on Starlink while it was positioned in the lot.
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