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

Starlink has recently 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. The Starlink satellite constellation is sparse in Arctic regions and Nordic countries compared to other parts of the world. This paper evaluates the FHP terminal's performance in Oulu, Finland, a city located in Northern Europe near the Arctic Circle. 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 into 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 routing.