Starlink in Northern Europe: A New Look at Stationary and In-motion Performance

Abstract

Starlink has introduced the Flat High Performance (FHP) terminal, specifically designed to support the vehicles and the vessels in motion as well as the high-demand stationary users. The research on FHP terminal throughput analysis remains limited, only a few existing studies evaluate FHP, focusing on the limited parameters and scenarios. This paper evaluates the FHP terminal's performance in Finland, Northern Europe. We examine round-trip time (RTT), uplink, and downlink throughput for both stationary and in-motion use. We measure network efficiency across six geographically diverse servers and get insights of network routing strategies. Our results show that Starlink provides high-speed, low-RTT connectivity, however, the throughput experiences fluctuations with slight degradation when in motion. Additionally, we compare Starlink and terrestrial network RTT and possible routing paths.