Building a house? Plan for Starlink before the drywall goes up

Plan three things before the walls close: a dish spot that will still see open sky once the house and landscaping are finished, a conduit path from that spot to a central router location, and Ethernet to the far rooms. Starlink says to connect its cable directly, with no jumpers or wall jacks in between, so the conduit has to carry the whole cable to the router.

Getting this right during framing costs some conduit and an afternoon. Fixing it after drywall means holes, patches and a router stuck wherever the cable happened to land.

Scan the build site at the future mount height

Starlink’s install guides say to use the obstruction tool in the Starlink app to make sure you’ve picked a suitable mounting location. On a build site, do it before the framing goes up, from as close to the dish’s future height as you can safely get. The app check guide shows how to run the scan.

A bare lot scans differently from a finished home, so think about what will change:

• The house itself. Starlink counts a roof among the things that can interrupt service. A dish on a pole or a low wall next to a two-story house has that house in its sky.
• Trees you keep. Leafy trees scan best in winter. If the lot has oaks or maples you plan to keep, see winter scans and summer leaves.
• Future additions. A garage, a second story or a covered porch planned for later can block a spot that’s clear today.

Treat the finished roof peak like a tree in the sky angle calculator: enter its height, its distance from the dish spot and the dish height.

Pick the dish spot with the finished roofline in mind

Starlink says many customers find a permanent mount in an elevated spot, like a roof or pole, works best, and that a wall mount is fine when the dish sits above the wall and its view stays clear. It also says not to place the dish beside a wall or under a cover that blocks the sky.

In a new build, that usually means one of three spots:

• High on the roof, near the ridge, with a short cable path into the attic.
• High on a gable wall, near the top of the gable or fascia, with the conduit going straight into the wall.
• A pole in the yard, if the trees are taller than the house. That run leaves the house, so see the cable guide for burying and yard runs.

A new roof comes with a warranty, and Starlink’s terms say that with a permanent roof mount you accept the risks, including to your roof warranty. Our suggestion: ask the roofer to set and flash the mount point while the roof goes on, so the penetration is theirs. Tile and metal roofs have their own rules: see Starlink on a tile roof and the metal roof guide.

Conduit from the dish to a central router spot

The Starlink cable ends in connectors, so it has to be pulled through whole. Conduit lets you pull it after drywall, replace a damaged cable later and change hardware without opening walls. One builder on the Tesla Motors Club forum describes running conduit to the roof for the dish during construction (thread).

Size. Starlink doesn’t publish the connector’s outside size or a minimum bend radius. Its Cable Routing Kit comes with a 3/4-inch spade bit, which hints at the hole the connector needs to pass. Our rule of thumb: get the actual cable, or the exact connector size, before you buy conduit; size up rather than down; use long sweeping bends instead of tight elbows; and leave a pull string in it.

Length. Every current home kit includes a 15 m (49.2 ft) Starlink cable. Starlink sells a 45 m (147 ft) cable for $115 (Starlink Shop, shipping included, Nov 3, 2026). Measure the whole route, up from the dish, across the attic and down the wall to the router, not the straight line between them.

One cable, Starlink’s own. Starlink advises against cutting, splicing or joining cables to add length, and says to use only Starlink cables because third-party equipment isn’t covered by the warranty. It also says to keep the cable away from kinks, debris and door jambs.

Why the Starlink cable can’t end at a wall plate

Builders like to land every cable on a jack. Don’t do it with this one. Starlink’s Specifications document says to connect the dish directly, without jumper cables, receptacles or other devices that extend the link between the dish and the router.

So there’s no keystone jack and no patch panel for the dish cable. The conduit ends at the router spot, the cable comes out of the wall through an open pass-through plate or grommet, and it plugs straight into the Starlink router. That fixes the router’s location at build time, which is why the next two sections matter.

If you plan to run your own router or mesh behind Starlink’s, the Starlink router still sits at the end of this cable. The Wi-Fi guide covers that setup.

Ethernet runs for mesh routers and far rooms

Starlink’s routers have few wired ports. Router 3 has a WAN port and two LAN ports; the Router Mini has one WAN and one LAN. Our reading: if you want more than one or two wired runs, plan space and power for a small network switch at the router spot.

Starlink’s mesh guidance shapes where those runs go:

• For a home over 6,000 sq ft, Starlink says to run Ethernet from the main router to the other routers or mesh nodes.
• Use no more than three Starlink Mesh routers.
• Place each mesh router between the main router and the weak rooms, 1 to 2 rooms from the main router. Starlink’s troubleshooting article says to space mesh nodes 30 ft apart.
• Brick, stone, mirrors or several walls between rooms can lower coverage. In a masonry house of any size, wired runs to the far rooms are worth it.

Good places for a drop: an upstairs hallway for a mesh router, the far end of a long single-story plan, a home office and the main TV.

Power at the router spot, and keeping it in conditioned space

Keep the router and power supply in heated and cooled space; Can Starlink overheat? compares the two temperature ranges Starlink publishes for that gear. Starlink also says to mount the power supply where it can cool, because it shuts itself off if it gets too hot and that drops the connection. Router in the attic, garage or basement explains why those rooms are poor choices.

Starlink’s Wi-Fi tips add the rest: a central spot, a hard flat surface at least halfway up the room, open space rather than a cabinet, media console or closet, and at least 20 feet from microwaves, refrigerators, metal, concrete and brick.

That rules out the classic network closet as a Wi-Fi spot. If you still want the router in a utility closet, treat it as the wired hub: keep the closet cool and ventilated, and run Ethernet to mesh routers out in the open rooms. That’s our reading, not a Starlink layout.

Put an outlet at the router spot. Starlink lists a surge protector as an optional storm-prep step.

When to order

Order when the house can use it, not at framing. Starlink’s US terms start the bill at whichever comes first: switching the kit on, the seventh day after the box is delivered, or, for an order that never gets a delivery date, the thirtieth day after it ships. A kit sitting in a garage for months still starts that clock.

A checklist to hand your builder and electrician

1. Mark the dish spot on the plans, with the mount type and its height.
2. Run conduit from the dish spot to the router spot, sized with the connector in hand, with sweeping bends and a pull string.
3. Seal the exterior entry and leave a drip loop below it.
4. Place the router spot centrally, at least halfway up a wall or on a shelf, inside conditioned space and not in a cabinet.
5. Put a power outlet at the router spot, with room for a small switch.
6. Run Ethernet from the router spot to mesh router spots and far rooms.
7. Leave access to the top end of the conduit through an attic hatch or a reachable chase.
8. Measure the full cable route and plan for the 45 m cable if it’s longer than 49.2 ft.

Before you lock the dish spot, run the fit check with the scan from the build site.

Run the fit check

Questions this page answers

What size conduit do I need for the Starlink cable?

Starlink doesn't publish one. Its Cable Routing Kit comes with a 3/4-inch spade bit, which hints at the hole the connector needs; size the conduit with the actual connector in hand, use sweeping bends and leave a pull string.

Can I put a wall jack between the Starlink dish and the router?

No. Starlink's Specifications say to connect the dish directly, without jumper cables, receptacles or other devices that extend the link. The cable should run in one piece from the dish to the router.

Where should the Starlink router go in a new house?

Somewhere central, on a raised open surface, inside the heated and cooled part of the house. Starlink's Wi-Fi tips say not to put the router in a cabinet, a media console or a closet.

Should I run Ethernet in a new build for Starlink?

Yes, to rooms far from the router and to any mesh router spots. Starlink says homes over 6,000 sq ft should connect their extra routers by Ethernet, and wired runs help in brick or stone houses of any size.

When should I order Starlink for a house under construction?

When the house can use it. Under Starlink's US terms the bill starts at whichever comes first: you switch the kit on, the box has sat delivered for 7 days, or 30 days have passed since shipping on an order with no delivery date on record.

Read next

Cable into the house

Read

Wi-Fi reach

Read

Fit check

Read

Can the Starlink router go in the attic, garage or basement?

Read

What we checked this page against

1. Standard 4 X Setup Guide (Starlink PDF) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
2. Where should I install my Starlink? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
3. Starlink Specifications, US (legal document) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
4. How much cable do I have and how do I route it indoors? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
5. Starlink Shop, public accessory list with US prices · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
6. Intermittent Internet - Troubleshooting (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
7. Does the WiFi router have any ethernet (LAN) ports? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
8. What is Starlink Mesh? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
9. How can I improve my WiFi connectivity? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
10. Weather and extreme temperatures: can I still use Starlink? (Starlink help center) · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
11. Starlink Terms of Service, US · retrieved Nov 3, 2026
12. Starlink installation thread (Tesla Motors Club forum) · retrieved Nov 4, 2026

Each number on this page traces back to one of these entries; our fact rules explain how. If a reading has drifted, the corrections log shows how it gets fixed.