The best way to see if you can get Starlink is to enter your address on the Starlink website. Starlink Direct to Cell will, as we mentioned, work with any phone that can handle LTE. But whether Starlink will work with your cell specifically depends on which mobile provider you have. As an important note, Starlink the differences between a real estate agent a broker and a realtor Maritime plans run by the same rules as the Mobility plans and data amounts listed above, so keep that in mind before you purchase. For more on Starlink availability, check out our When Will Starlink Be Available? Guide to determine when Starlink will be available near you or sign up for the Starlink waitlist.
- The cable has two ends, both with the same connector type, but with differently shaped plugs.
- You get unlimited standard data all month long for the plan’s $90–$120 monthly price.
- Again, check out our guide to Starlink accessories to see which mounting options might be best for your circumstances.
During that period, the system downloads the latest drivers; scans and maps the satellites around the dish; and calculates the optimal positions to communicate with the different satellites above. These connections adjust automatically, so you shouldn’t have to worry about constantly tweaking your setup. The mounting base includes holes in all four feet for screwing down securely. You can use these to attach the mount to a roof or a fixed structure, as well as stake it to the ground. The kit does not include screws or stakes, you have to supply those yourself.
Is Starlink internet portable?
But you might not have the open space that I do or live in a neighborhood where you feel safe leaving your $600 dish out in the yard. The router comes with a power cable, but the dish doesn’t need one—it uses the single connector cable to provide both power and data. The initial signup takes moments; you only need to provide your physical address and credit card information. As part of signing up you’ll find out whether you can expect your Starlink kit within the usual two-week window of time, or if you’ll be placed on a waitlist for an unspecified amount of time. It’s simply a matter of visiting Starlink.com and confirming that your location is covered by Starlink’s service area—as easy as plugging your address into the SpaceX coverage map—and then signing up for the service. Starlink internet is currently not portable and is intended for stationary residential use.
How to check if Starlink is available without an address using plus codes
It’s relatively expensive ($599, plus a $50 handling fee), but there is no recurring equipment fee. Both HughesNet and Viasat planned to launch new satellites in 2023 that will provide internet speeds as fast as 150 Mbps as well as increased data capacity. Unfortunately, Viasat’s rocket launch was unsuccessful, so residential plans may become more restricted. But HughesNet is still looking forward to its new satellite, which should launch toward the end of 2023, so faster and roomier data caps could be on the way.
You can pick what equipment you get with Starlink Priority, but Starlink recommends the $2,500 high performance satellite to keep up with your Priority data. To check if Starlink’s availability in your area, check out our Starlink beta sign-up page, where we’ll walk you through the waitlist, area availability, and more. Exact costs will vary from region to region, as well as equipment you get. For example, it shows a Starlink Kit would currently cost me $50 in shipping from where I live.
Starlink Internet Review: Plans, Pricing, and Speeds
The cable has two ends, both with the same connector type, but with differently shaped plugs. This makes it fairly simple to keep straight which end goes into the dish and which end goes into the base unit. All the plugs have moisture-resistant compare crypto exchange fees to find a better rate seals and should withstand inclement weather. For a long time, you could only buy this basic equipment kit directly from the Starlink website, but you can now find the same starter package sold through Home Depot and Best Buy.
Starlink’s RV internet (Starlink Roam) also bills monthly with no contract, so you can pause and resume service whenever you want. Starlink is a satellite internet provider developed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. It uses low-Earth orbit satellites to provide faster speeds, more data, and lower latency broadband service to underserved rural and remote areas worldwide. Starlink data caps coincide with its different service plans, starting first with Standard data, then Priority data, Mobile data, and Mobile priority data.
Starlink availability vs. the competition
Some efforts include updating Starlink software to adjust positioning to make them invisible to the naked eye and deploying sun visors that darken satellites from sun Reflections. Starlink customers can find some financial relief in the lack of installation fee for Starlink, which we’ll cover more below. Starlink Maritime plans are technically now under the same umbrella as Starlink Mobility as well, but with a few differences.
It doesn’t disclose what that amount is, so what your data cap is remains to be seen. Starlink’s service is still prone to service disruptions caused by a network that’s still in progress along with other connection issues that are inherent to low-Earth orbit technology. However, Starlink Business promises a stronger connection with prioritized bandwidth and weather-resistant satellite internet equipment. Plus, Priority 40 GB, Priority 1TB, and Priority 2TB plans have roomy data caps—even if you’re certainly paying for them. Starlink whisks those worries away with big priority data caps and then unlimited standard data.
Starlink Standard (which offers residential home internet) is the one most users are after, and it’s probably all you need if you want an at-home connection. If you live in an area where the network is at low-capacity (not many people using it at 5 best white label payment gateway solutions in 2023 the same time), you’ll pay $90 a month, and if you’re in a high-capacity Starlink area (which is most of its areas), you’ll pay $120. You’ll only know which one when you sign up—or when Starlink tells your area’s changed from one to the other.
Although Viasat and HughesNet technically offer unlimited data as well, your speeds will be slowed significantly (almost to unusable speeds) once you hit the data cap for your plan. If you’ve had satellite internet in the past, you know that having enough data can be an issue—especially if you stream on satellite internet or use a lot of data working over Zoom. When we first reviewed Starlink in 2022, we found that it provided internet speeds from 50Mbps to 200Mbps, and the service has actually improved according to tests we ran here in 2023. That’s fast enough for gaming, not to mention streaming and other common online uses, and it’s substantially better than other satellite internet providers.
If you can get Verizon or T-Mobile 4G or 5G home internet, we suggest going with them instead of Starlink. Monthly billing is straightforward and handled online; it’s an automatic payment, so you can set it and forget it after the initial signup. And whenever you’re ready to stop service, you can handle that through the same web portal, with no early-termination fees or cancellation penalties.
It’s the same package you’d get through Starlink, containing the dish, router, stand, and cables, but buying locally lets you skip the $50 handling fee, and there’s no waiting for delivery. Starlink has recently unveiled its newest plan, Starlink Direct to Cell, also nicknamed Starlink Mobile. This Starlink cell phone service will use Starlink’s LEO satellite constellation to power cell coverage across land, lake, and coastal waters. Text, voice, and data will be rolled out from 2024 to 2025 to any phone with LTE capabilities (which is almost all of them, for the record).
Hughesnet, meanwhile, doesn’t match up to either Starlink or Viasat’s speed, but it’s not trying to. Hughesnet is the budget pick intended to deliver you broadband internet speeds for basic connectivity at cheaper prices than either. If you’re looking just for something that lets you browse your email and occasionally video call your family, this is the right choice for you. Starlink ships out from the US, that means there could be extra fees if you live outside the US. It appears that Starlink is absorbing the costs for customs in some regions like Canada and the UK, but this may vary from place to place.
You’ll want VoIP along with satellite internet if you need a reliable phone line where you live (cell phones aren’t always reliable in emergencies). Unlike cell phones that rely on local cell towers that are prone to service disruptions, VoIP uses the internet to make phone calls, which is a more reliable phone connection in rural areas. It comes with Starlink Roam’s Global plan, Starlink Mobility, and Starlink Maritime. The Flat High Performance Starlink is significantly more expensive, so you’ll notice all the plans it comes with are on Starlink’s higher end too. After the installation process, it may take a full 12 hours for the Starlink system to reach optimal performance.
Once the mast is in place, you plug in the 75-foot connector cable with the straight plug connector. As mentioned, the two ends of the cable use differently shaped connectors, so it should be simple to determine the correct end. Starlink doesn’t offer TV or voice bundles currently, despite its variety of plans. So if you wanted both Starlink Standard and Starlink Roam (RV), for example, you’d need to pay both bills, so keep that in mind when deciding when signing up.