The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently approved SpaceX to market its new Starlink Wi-Fi router model UTR-251. The Vietnamese-made indoor router appears to support either a revised high-performance Starlink dish or upcoming products. The UTR-251 stands as the successor to the Gen 3 router (UTR-231/232) from 2023 while using a vertical design like the Gen 2 model but features only one Ethernet port.
According to FCC documents the UTR-251 operates at Wi-Fi 6 speeds while matching the Gen 3 dimensions but provides a watt output that extends across multiple wireless frequencies including the 5.9GHz UNII-4 band. Director Tim Belfall at Westend WiFi in the UK pointed out that the UTR-251 operates at 9V and 1.6A (14.4 watts) because it could work with SpaceX’s new Mini dish design.
The SpaceX development team works on three new dish models that include a flat high-performance enterprise dish now available at $1,499 instead of $2,499 on Starlink.com. Ukrainian engineer Oleg Kutkov tracked code modifications which confirmed the new dish production was ready. The UTR-251’s function remains unknown because it does not come with a bundled router and it could serve either residential or enterprise markets. SpaceX has introduced new connectivity options through its recent moves because Vietnam faces unpredictable U.S. trade regulations.
