Interestingly, With the rising popularity of Elon Musk and SpaceX, Starlink’s internet is all the rage these days. As a result, more and more people are purchasing it and want to know about Starlink internet plans in 2024. In this guide, we have compared and explained every Starlink internet plan available right now. So, let’s begin.
How Many Starlink Internet Plans are Available in 2024?
As of now, in 2024, a total of 6 internet plans are available. Seems like Starlink has got something for everyone. The following are the available plans with Starlink:
- Residential Plan: For people who love to stay in their homes
- Best Effort Plan: Low-priority service for residential customers
- RV Plan: For touring people who love to travel
- Portable Plan: Residential customers can opt for this plan to take out Starlink with them
- Business Plan: For businesses
- Maritime Plan: For yacht and boat operators
- Aviation Plan: For aircraft operators
SpaceX Starlink Internet Plans Explained 2024
1. Starlink Residential Plan
When it comes to internet service, Starlink’s first offering was the Starlink Residential package. It’s the baseline offering, designed for almost every customer who wants Starlink internet. The residential plan is intended for long-term use at a single location and is not available for commercial purposes.
In terms of download speeds, residential service can reach 20-100 Mbps, while upload speeds can reach 5-15 Mbps. Further, latency is between 25 and 50 ms, and data is unlimited (though transfer rates will decrease after 1 terabyte is used).
Priced at $110 per month plus $599 for hardware equipment, the Residential Internet Plan is not cheap. Customers are free to cancel anytime because no long-term commitments are required. If you wish to purchase the High-performance dish, you will have to shell out $2500 for hardware.
As of now, the residential plan is currently constrained due to high demand and incomplete Starlink satellite constellation deployment. You may need to pre-order Residential and join a waiting list in certain areas.
Further, Starlink will allow those on the waiting list to place equipment orders and begin using the Residential service as network capacity increases.
2. Starlink Best Effort Plan
Starlink subscribers on the Residential waiting list have access to the Best Effort internet package. Best Effort service is currently being offered to a limited number of Starlink pre-order customers.
While waiting for their accounts to be converted to Residential service, those on the waitlist can get Best Effort and Starlink internet service. The term “best effort” means exactly what it says: the best possible effort will be made to provide the service. You will have access to Starlink internet, but its speed is not guaranteed and may sometimes be slow.
Customers in the Residential plan are the target audience for Best Effort. The intended use is in-home use.
There will be a wide range of download speeds between 5 and 50 Mbps, and upload speeds can vary between 2 and 10 Mbps. There are no strict data caps, just like with residential. On the Starlink system, Best Effort users are placed lower in the priority queue. Customers on Best Effort customers will get slower speeds during peak times due to the network having to prioritize traffic from Residential customers.
The monthly best-effort fee is $110 plus a one-time equipment fee of $599. Customers are not bound by any agreements and can cancel or suspend service whenever they like. Basically, the best effort stands in the middle of waitlisted and permanent residential customers.
There is no need to buy any new equipment; your account will be converted to Residential status automatically when it is eligible and available.
3. Starlink RV Plan
The Starlink RV plan is an RV-specific internet connection – Recreation Vehicle. Starlink RV caters to the needs of RV users, van dwellers, and overlanders. Suppose you subscribe to this tier of service. In that case, you can take your Starlink with you wherever you go and use it to maintain a constant Internet connection wherever Starlink is operational.
All of the RV hardware is almost similar to that of the Residential hardware. The key difference is that you can take your dish with you when you travel away from your registered service location.
RV provides speeds of 5-50 Mbps for downloading and 2-10 Mbps for uploading. Latency is the same as with the other service tiers (25-50 ms), and there are no data caps or limits. RV is analogous to Best Effort in that it deprioritizes bandwidth. Whenever there is a spike in network traffic, RV users will experience slower speeds than regular users’.
For $135 per month plus a one-time equipment fee of $599, you can subscribe to Starlink RV. There are no commitments required for RV, and you can pause service whenever you like. So, you need to pay $25 extra if you want to keep your Starlink moving all the time.
There is no RV waiting list because the vehicles can be used anywhere. Almost anyone can place an RV order and use the service anywhere they have service.
4. Starlink Portability Mode Plan
Literally, Starlink Portability Mode is not an internet plan but an optional extra for Residential customers. The residential dish can be used in any recreational vehicle with its convenient portability. The Portability upgrade makes your Residential dish portable, allowing you to set it up in any location, just like an RV.
Customers who intend to use their dish primarily at home but who may occasionally need to take it along on an RV trip or to a vacation home are the target audience for this feature.
Speeds will be comparable to the RV plan when using the Starlink dish away from the registered service address in Portability mode. Speeds of 5-50 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up. Portability users on the Starlink network receive less attention than RV and Best Effort users.
Customers in the residential market will pay an additional $25 monthly for the portability feature. The ability to travel light is possible with this. Thus, making it similar to the RV plan.
5. Starlink Business Plan
The Starlink Internet Service Plan for businesses is called Starlink Business. If you run a business organization, you can purchase the Starlink business plan.
Hardware for businesses is different from that used in homes. Due to the higher data throughput requirements of commercial applications, the antenna has been made physically larger.
For commercial use, you can expect download speeds of 40-220 mbps and upload speeds of 8-25 mbps. The latency is 25-50 ms, and there are no data caps.
The residential plan and business plan are somewhat similar because both offer some access to priority data and no limit on data usage.
The initial expenses for this business plan are $2,500 for hardware and a monthly fee of $500. The Business Plan does not include any contracts.
6. Starlink Maritime Plan
Starlink Maritime is a special Starlink internet package designed for use on yachts, research vessels, and other high-end marine applications.
Maintaining a steady and quick connection while on the move requires specialised hardware, and Maritime does just that by combining two antennas. Maritime isn’t made for a weekend on the lake or a PWC that’s only going to be used in coastal waters.
Download speeds on the water can reach up to 250 Mbps, with upload speeds of 10-30 mbps. The latency is below 99 ms, which is above the standard. Similar to other internet plans, Maritime also has no data caps.
The maritime service has a monthly fee of $5,000 and a one-time equipment fee of $10,000. Similar to other plans, there’s no contract.
7. Starlink Aviation Plan
Starlink’s answer to private and corporate aircraft is Starlink Aviation. As with Maritime, the target audience for Aviation is the business and commercial aircraft operator market rather than individual consumers.
The Aero Terminal is a specialized Starlink antenna built for each different make and model of aeroplane. As of now, there is a short list of supported models available on Starlink.
As of this date, Starlink says that they will keep updating the list with newer aircraft and more models as and when they have developed hardware.
Starlink aviation will offer up to 350 Mbps, with latency as low as 20 ms. It’s free to use as much data as you like.
Prices range from $12,000 to $25,000 per month, plus an upfront hardware fee of $150,000. You don’t have any bonds or contracts.
The Bottom Line
Well, that’s all we have here about all Starlink internet plans in 2024. We hope this guide has helped you. As per our thoughts and opinions go, Starlink Maritime and Aviation are things that are good to hear but difficult to do. Most of the users are well off with Residential and RV plans, and they don’t need to worry about anything.
Starlink is still seeing its early days, and a lot is still about to happen. So, wait until you get your hands on your Starlink and then decide what’s best for you because there’s no question if you want to shift to another plan. Until then, make sure that you know whether Starlink is available in your area.
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