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Starlink and Smartlink dropouts

Dennis Daniel KM6DF
Dennis Daniel KM6DF Member ✭✭
in Community Topics

Many of us are using starlink as our remote internet when we travel and remote back to our home stations not on Starlink and we all experience dropouts. I have read all of the post about this subject and have not seen any solutions only patches to the problem. As Starlink continues to improve their system I see less and less dropouts to a point depending on my location no dropouts at all. That is good news for everyone. The problem I see is that the SmartLink system has no reconnect feature. I have used a VPN and it has helps but not a solution. You all have said if I am using remote Smartlink client I don't need a VPN and I find that to be true. Starlink outages are about a few seconds to over a minute at times. I am not a network guy, so you all need to keep this simple please. But why can't it work like other services we use with Starlink like phones etc.

Thanks Dennis KM6DF

Comments

  • John KB4DU
    John KB4DU Member ✭✭✭✭

    There is a significant difference between fault tolerant (to dropped packets) like voice or video compared to high data rate real-time streaming.

  • Dennis Daniel KM6DF
    Dennis Daniel KM6DF Member ✭✭

    I do not understand your statement without detail. If I can connect a hotspot to Starlink and use DMR,Dstar, and other digital modes even with the momentary dropouts. The hotspots will reconnect up to a set time I set why can’t SmartSDR and Smartlink do the same.

    Thanks

    Dennis KM6DF

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin

    SmartLink today does not have an auto-reconnect feature. That’s why Starlink micro-outages (a few seconds to a minute) cause the FlexRadio SmartLink client to drop and stay dropped until you manually reconnect. Other applications you use on Starlink (like phones, Zoom, or messaging apps) work more gracefully because they’re designed with session persistence and automatic reconnection built in.

    Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening and what is (and isn’t) a reliable solution today:

    Why SmartLink Drops with Starlink

    • UDP session loss: SmartLink uses UDP streams for audio, panadapter, and control. When the Starlink link drops for even a few seconds, the client loses the session, and SmartLink doesn’t attempt to re-establish automatically.
    • VPN tunnels: A VPN can hide the dropouts by maintaining a single TCP session across reconnections. This can reduce disconnects, but when Starlink drops entirely for more than a few seconds, even the VPN tunnel collapses. That’s why you’ve seen it helps but is not 100% reliable and can be complicated to setup and make work reliably. They are not a plug and play solution and may require someone with solid networking skills.
    • Careful router setup: Using a router that’s tolerant of WAN failovers or has good NAT handling may smooth over short hiccups, but it won’t fix longer Starlink interruptions.

    Why Phones / Other Apps Behave Differently

    • Resilient protocols: Voice apps (SIP, WebRTC, etc.) and video apps (Zoom, Teams) are designed to tolerate packet loss and re-establish streams without user action.
    • Background retry: They automatically reconnect TCP or UDP sessions when the link is restored, usually within seconds.

    The Reliable Answer Today

    Unfortunately, there is no 100% reliable solution at this time for eliminating SmartLink dropouts on Starlink.

  • Dennis Daniel KM6DF
    Dennis Daniel KM6DF Member ✭✭

    Mike thank you for your detailed explanation in a way I and hopefully others will understand. However as more and more remote flex operators move to Starlink as their remote internet service on the road or in the back country where no other service is available, we hope flex and smartlink would come up with a solution. Also the need to improve and provide better reconnect activity of the system for ECOM to reach out in an emergency is critical.
    Again thanks and look forward to future updates to the systems

    Dennis KM6DF

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