Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
On November 10, Starlink quietly Published support page It details its latest move toward affordability: a $40 monthly plan with no cost for equipment and, in some areas, free installation. This is half the price of Starlink’s previous access plan.
One catch? You’ll get budget speeds for this budget price. Starlink It caps download speeds at 100Mbps on the new plan, which it calls the “Residential 100Mbps” service plan. There’s no cap on download speeds, but Starlink’s specs page lists expected speeds between 15 and 35 Mbps.
For a long time, residential Starlink customers had only one choice: $120 a month, plus $349 for equipment. But earlier this year, Starlink launched for the first time Lite residential planWhich brought the monthly price down to $80 for discounted speeds. (Starlink also offers a $50 per month roaming plan designed for use on the go with… Starlink mini dishbut the data limit is 50 GB per month.)
| He plans | Monthly price | Typical download speeds | Typical download speeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential 100 Mbps | $40 | 80-100 Mbps | 15-35 Mbps |
| Residential Light | $80 | 80-200 Mbps | 15-35 Mbps |
| residential | $120 | 135-305 Mbps | 20-40 Mbps |
For the three years I’ve been writing about Starlink, I’ve heard the same thing from people in broadband circles. Yes, it’s a real game-changer for rural broadband, but the reason most people don’t have good internet is because they can’t afford it. Now, they offer a price on par with some Cheapest internet plans there.
Can you get the affordable Starlink plan?
Where you can actually get the $40 plan is an open question. Starlink’s website says its plans and promotions vary depending on your location and the type of service you offer, and that some offers are “only available in certain regions or for specific account types.” He goes on to say, “If you don’t see a particular offer in your account, it means it’s not currently available for your current service location.”
On Starlink Residential services websiteI checked ten random addresses across the country and found only one area where the plan was actually available: a rural town in Nevada. SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, did not respond to my request for more information, but my educated guess is that it is only offering this plan in regions where Starlink has excess capacity.
Because Starlink relies on thousands of satellites in the sky to deliver internet to your home, it’s unable to handle as many users as cable or fiber ISPs. One study came out this summer It is estimated that Starlink can connect only 6.66 homes per square mile before it drops below the FCC standard of 100/20 Mbps for broadband speeds.
Where I live in Seattle, Starlink currently charges an additional $1,000 fee due to high demand in the area. Enticing users with a monthly price of $40, it will likely now only be available in sparsely populated locations.
Is 100Mbps speed enough?
Starlink says its speeds are up to 100Mbps on the $40 plan, but I assume your typical speeds will be a bit less than that. the Latest data from Ookla It found that Starlink customers received average download speeds of 104.71 Mbps — well below the maximum of 305 Mbps it advertises. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)
However, assuming the Residential 100Mbps plan is only available in areas where there aren’t a lot of other Starlink users, I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes close to those speeds. But is 100 Mbps enough?
For me, it would be just that. I live alone and don’t do a lot of bandwidth-intensive activities like online gaming or downloading large files. However, the more devices you add to the mix, the more quickly you’ll run out of 100Mbps. Starlink says the plan is best suited for “households of 2-3 people with daily internet needs,” but that seems a bit optimistic to me. The 100Mbps number assumes you’re connected via Ethernet, and you’ll lose some speed over Wi-Fi.
If everyone in your household only uses one device at a time for simple tasks like browsing social media or streaming music, I can imagine two or three people would be able to get by at 100Mbps. But if you want to do things like stream 4K video and play online games simultaneously, I think this plan will have a hard time keeping up.