Starlink just canceled its $40 budget plan. This is the cheapest option available now

It was good while it lasted. On November 10, Starlink quietly began offering its cheapest plan yet: $40 per month for 100Mbps speeds in select locations.

Just as quietly, it has now been removed as an option in those same areas.

Reddit users first discovered the change Tuesdaywhen some who had previously subscribed to the $40 plan tried to switch again and found that it was no longer available. The plan is still available at Australia and Canada.

The plan, called Residential 100 Mbps, includes download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. There was no cap on upload speeds, but Starlink’s specs page listed expected speeds between 15 and 35 Mbps.

“If you don’t see a particular offer in your account, it means it’s not currently available for your current service location,” Starlink support page For the plan he says. Starlink representatives did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.

When plan Debuted last monthI checked ten random addresses across the country and found only one area where it was actually available: a rural town in Nevada. No longer available at the same address.

It’s no surprise that Starlink only offers the cheapest plan in areas with excess capacity, as it struggles to maintain speeds in areas with a lot of users. (One of the recent studies I found that it could only handle 6.66 users per square mile before speeds dropped below the FCC minimum standard.)

Starlink’s Residential Lite plan, which advertises download speeds of up to 250Mbps for $80 per month, is still available in most suburban and rural areas. The Residential plan advertises speeds of over 400Mbps for $120 per month.

But I would take these speed numbers with a grain of salt. the Latest report from Ookla It found that average Starlink download speeds in the US were 105Mbps — which is about what customers were supposed to get with the discontinued $40 plan. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

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