Test your sky before you order.

A free 5-minute test that tells you whether Starlink will actually work at your address. Most failed installs come from skipping this step.

The single most important pre-order step

The number one reason new Starlink customers end up returning their hardware is obstructions: trees, buildings, or roof angles that block the dish's view of the sky. The good news is that Starlink gives you a free way to test for this before you spend a dollar. The Starlink app on your phone has an obstruction check tool that shows you exactly which patches of sky are blocked at any specific spot you might want to mount the dish.

Run this test before you order. It takes five minutes and saves you from the frustration of buying, installing, and returning hardware that was never going to work.

How to run the check

1. Download the Starlink app (iOS or Android). It is free and you do not need to be a customer to use the obstruction tool.
2. Open the app and look for "Check for Obstructions" on the home screen.
3. The app uses your phone's camera and gyroscope to scan the sky from wherever you are standing.
4. Hold the phone vertically and slowly sweep it across the entire sky in a circular pattern, covering everything from horizon to straight up.
5. The app builds a 3D map of obstructions and gives you a percentage score.

Do this from every potential dish location: the roof, the back yard, the deck, the second-floor balcony. Each spot will give you a different result. Pick the best one before ordering.

What the percentage means

For a smooth experience, aim for under 1 percent. For an acceptable experience, under 3 percent. Above 5 percent and you will be frustrated daily, regardless of which plan tier you pick.

What actually counts as an obstruction

The dish needs a clear view of a wide cone of sky, roughly 100 degrees across, mostly facing toward the equator from your hemisphere (north in the southern hemisphere, north or south depending on your latitude in the northern hemisphere).

Things that count as obstructions:

• Trees, including deciduous in winter. Bare branches block more signal than people expect, especially when wet or icy.
• Buildings, walls, chimneys. Anything solid in the dish's view path.
• Roof eaves and overhangs. If you mount under an eave, you lose half the sky.
• Hillsides and ridges. Rural problem. The terrain itself can occlude the satellite view.
• Power lines and antennas. Less critical, but multiple thin obstructions add up.

Things that do not count:

• Light cloud cover. Even thick clouds barely impact signal.
• Distant mountains on the horizon (very low elevation).
• Birds, planes, weather. Transient obstructions are handled automatically by the satellite handoff system.

Fixing marginal installs

If your obstruction percentage is 3 to 5 percent, small changes often help a lot:

Raise the dish

The single biggest improvement is height. A dish at ground level with trees nearby might show 8 percent obstructions. Same dish on a 6-foot pole drops to 2 percent. Same dish on a roof drops to under 1 percent.

Move it sideways

Sometimes shifting the dish 10 feet in one direction clears a problem branch. The app shows you exactly which sky direction is blocked. Walk a few feet, retest. Repeat until the score improves.

Trim, do not chop

One overhanging branch can be the difference between 4 percent and 1 percent. A small trim (legal on your own property) can transform performance. Cutting whole trees is rarely necessary.

Pick a different mount style

Wall-mounted dishes often have a partial obstruction in one direction (the wall they are attached to). Pole or roof mounts give 360-degree clearance.

What if you cannot pass the check

If your best spot still shows over 5 percent obstructions, Starlink is probably not the right service for you in this location. The dish will work, but performance will be inconsistent. Options:

• Wait for tree work or new construction if a specific obstruction will be removed.
• Move the receiver location entirely. Some users put the dish on a neighboring outbuilding with a long cable run.
• Skip Starlink for this address. 5G home internet, fixed wireless, or even decent DSL might be a better fit.

What about the 30-day return?

If you skip the obstruction check, order anyway, and find out the install does not work, Starlink does honor the 30-day return policy. You ship the dish back and get a refund. But the better play is to spend 5 minutes with the free app first, and either order with confidence or save yourself the time.

The check is the cheapest, fastest, lowest-risk thing you can do before ordering. It is also the single biggest predictor of whether you will love or hate Starlink. Run it before you spend any money.