About Starlink Plans, Have you ever wondered which Starlink internet plan will be the best for your home or business use?
Well, it depends on where you want to use it.
SpaceX offers 5 Starlink plans, including Residential, Roam, Business, Maritime, and Aviation.
From the names, you can easily tell the intended application.
However, we will go deeper to show you everything from speed to each Starlink plan cost.
Table of Contents
- Starlink Data Type
- Starlink Service Tiers: Detailed Comparison
- So, Which Plan Should You Choose: Final Verdict
Starlink Data Type
To better understand the difference in performance among these plans, it is important to know various Starlink internet data plans.
Starlink has four data types: Standard, Mobile, and Priority.
These data types determine the speed your internet traffic gets; each plan uses one of these.
Here is what to expect from each data type.
| Data Type | Download Speed (Mbps) | Upload Speed (Mbps) |
| Standard | 25 – 100 | 5-10 |
| Mobile | 5-50 | 2-10 |
| Priority | 40-220 | 8-25 |
Starlink Service Tiers: Detailed Comparison
Starlink Residential
Starlink Residential, or simple Starlink plan, is the original plan meant to operate at a permanent location, usually your home.
The company introduced the plan to offer the Starlink network globally, especially to those in rural areas.
Given that it uses the Standard data type, you expect a download speed between 25-100Mbps and 5-10Mbps upload speed.
The latency is also great, averaging 25-50 ms with no data cap.
The residential plan equipment may cost you around $599, followed by a monthly fee of around $99.
You can cancel your order anytime, and there are no contracts.
Starlink dish on a residential house roof
Residential Best Effort
Starlink is still in its early stages, and access is still limited.
Therefore, the company will allow you to pre-order and put you on a waitlist until they start offering services in your area.
The company has developed a special Residential Plan that enables you to receive their services while waiting.
The Residential Best Effort plan is similar to the Starlink plan in many ways, including intended customers and the cost.
The plan also doesn’t have contracts; you can cancel or pause and resume the service.
However, it uses Mobile data types that offer download speeds between 5-50 Mbps and 2-10 Mbps upload speeds.
The latency, around 99 ms, is also higher than the Residential plan.
For that reason, you are likely to experience a slower speed compared to a standard Residential Plan.
The company will convert it to a Residential plan once their service reaches your area.
You don’t have to buy more hardware.
Starlink Roam
Initially, the company referred to this plan as Starlink RV.
They recently changed the name to Starlink Roam after they felt they should generally target travelers.
This plan lets you enjoy Starlink while on the go and stay connected in regions with active Starlink coverage.
This plan also offers two other identical regional and global plans.
The Regional plan enables you to access the service only within your country, costing $150 monthly.
The Global plan can offer you satellite services anywhere worldwide as long as Starlink offers services where you are.
It costs around $200 per month.
The Roam plan will either come with portable equipment or in-motion hardware.
The portable package has similar hardware to the Residential plan, costing a one-time fee of $599.
The in-motion hardware is more expensive and will cost you a one-time fee of $2,500.
Roam also uses a mobile data type.
So expect the download speed to be between 5-50 Mbps and 2-10 Mbps for upload.
The latency can be as high as 99 ms.
However, you can stop it and resume any time you want, and therefore, no contracts.
You can order this plan and use it anywhere with Starlink coverage.
Therefore, it doesn’t have a pre-order option.
Starlink Business
Starlink business is a premium commercial plan for your business or high-demand government institutions.
The difference in hardware between this plan and the Residential plan is the size.
The kit includes a satellite dish, base, cables, WiFi router, and power supply, but the antenna is larger than the Residential plan for a more demanding workload.
This plan has a far better speed than the ones discussed above.
It uses priority data type, which offers a download speed between 40-220 Mbps and an upload speed of 8-25 Mbps.
The priority data come with limited data.
However, once you exhaust the priority data, you can use the Standard data, which is unlimited. The latency is also lower, at 25-50 ms.
Given its consistent and reliable speed, you should expect to pay higher. The least you can pay for 1TB of priority data is $250.
The kit plus shipping fees will cost you upfront of $2,500. No contracts, so you can pause it and resume when you want.
An antenna for receiving satellite internet
Starlink Maritime
As the name implies, this plan targets marine usage.
It uses special hardware permanently installed for in-motion in maritime business, a yacht, or a cruise ship.
It uses priority data types with 50GB, 1TB, and 5TB as options.
Once you exceed the data cap, you will lose connectivity if you are an ocean user.
Starlink Maritime Plan targets the commercial market and may be too expensive for an average person.
You will pay an upfront equipment fee of $2,500, followed by monthly charges depending on your chosen data cap.
The cheapest is the 50GB which costs only $250/month.
If you operate a large cruise ship, you may need two satellite dishes which means a higher equipment cost.
Starlink Aviation
As the name implies, Starlink Aviation is aimed at business and private jets.
It uses a special Aero Terminal antenna unique to each plane model.
It is the fastest in this list, with the ability to offer up to 350 Mbps speed with unlimited data.
The latency is also as low as 20 ms.
However, this plan cannot be for the typical consumer due to its high cost.
Only companies that can appreciate high-speed WiFi while flying long in the sky will be willing to slash $150,000 on satellite equipment.
The monthly data will also cost between $12,000 – $25,000.
There are no contracts here, too, so you can pause and resume when you want.
So, Which Plan Should You Choose: Final Verdict
Your choice will depend on where you want a WiFi connection.
If you need an internet connection for your home, you will go for a Residential Plan.
You should choose the Roaming Plan if you need it while traveling on land.
The Business Plan is for organizations and government institutions that require reliable and speedy internet.
For marine or commercial aviation business, choose Marine or Aviation Pla,n respectively.
