Starlink Plans
17 results
Starlink Plans
17 results
The short version, if you only read one box
A Starlink plan is defined by two things: how far the terminal is allowed to travel, and how much priority data it gets each month. Get those two right and the tier almost picks itself.
- Local keeps the terminal in one region and costs the least per gigabyte. Right for a depot, an office or a yard.
- Global crosses borders and goes to sea. The one people most often realise too late that they needed.
- Mobility is included on every plan we sell, so using the terminal in motion is never a separate permission or an upgrade.
- Priority data is the share of your month that gets precedence on a busy cell. Running out slows you down at busy times; it does not cut you off.
- Pooled shares one allowance across several terminals. Worth a conversation rather than a checkout.
On this page
Start here
What a Starlink plan actually decides
People arrive expecting to choose a speed. That is not how these plans are cut. Speed depends on the satellites overhead and how busy your cell is, and it is not something a plan tier promises you. What the plan really controls is narrower, and more consequential.
How far it may travel
A plan is tied either to a home region or to worldwide coverage. Take a regional plan outside its region and the terminal does not quietly degrade — it stops being served. This is the single most expensive thing to get wrong.
How much priority data
Each plan carries a monthly allowance of priority data. This is the part most like a traditional plan tier, and the part that is easiest to change later if you guess wrong.
What you do not have to decide
Mobility. Every business plan we sell includes in-motion use, so there is no upgrade to buy and no box to tick before a vehicle or vessel gets under way. The region decides how far it goes, never whether it may move.
The first decision
Local against global
This is the fork that matters most, and it is worth being precise about what each one does rather than reading the names.
| Local | Global | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it works | Within its home region | Across borders and at sea, subject to each territory's regulatory status |
| Cost per gigabyte | The lower of the two | Higher, because you are paying for reach |
| Right for | A depot, an office, a yard, a site that is not going anywhere | Vessels, international projects, travelling crews |
| The failure mode | Terminal leaves its region and is no longer served | Paying for coverage you never use |
| Changing later | Straightforward | Straightforward |
If a terminal will ever operate outside its home region, it needs a global plan. A plan that is right 90% of the time is not right.
Before you commit
The regulatory footnote is not boilerplate. Global coverage is subject to approval territory by territory, and the map changes. If your route or site list touches somewhere unusual, confirm it before the hardware is ordered rather than after.
The concept people get wrong
Priority data, and what running out actually means
This is not a data cap in the sense most people mean, and the difference is worth understanding before you size anything.
| Term | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Priority data | The share of your monthly allowance that gets precedence when the local cell is congested. This is the number that distinguishes one tier from the next. |
| What happens past it | Service continues. It is served at a lower priority than traffic that still has priority data available, so it is unaffected most of the time and slower when the cell is busy. |
| Unlimited | The connection does not stop when priority data is exhausted. Throughput can drop at congested times. It does not mean unlimited priority data. |
| Congestion | Bandwidth is shared with everyone served by the same cell. A busy area at a busy hour is slower than an empty one at a quiet hour, which is the opposite of the intuition most people arrive with. |
Why this matters for sizing
Because service continues past the allowance, guessing one tier low is a recoverable mistake and guessing high is money you do not get back. That asymmetry should shape the first plan you buy.
The main decision
Choosing a tier
Describe the operation honestly and the tier follows. These four rules settle most cases.
01
One site, one region, a handful of people, mostly email and browsing
→A local plan at a modest allowance
The cheapest per gigabyte and almost certainly enough. Move up later if the busy weeks prove otherwise — that is a far easier conversation than unwinding an oversized plan.
02
One site, but video calls and cloud backup all day
→A local plan at a higher allowance
Real-time work is not what exhausts an allowance; large sustained transfers are. If something backs up to the cloud nightly, size for that rather than for the headcount.
03
The terminal travels, and it leaves its home region while it does
→A global plan
Mobility is included on everything we sell, so the question is never whether it may move. It is how far it goes before it leaves the coverage you bought. A regional plan outside its region is not a slow connection, it is no connection.
04
Several sites, and the usage is uneven between them
→Pooled data
One allowance shared across terminals stops a quiet location subsidising a busy one, and it is less to administer than a subscription per site.
Browse
The plans themselves
Real plans, cheapest first, straight from the catalogue. Prices and availability are live, and anything here can go in the cart without leaving the page.
Local plans
Tied to a home region, and the lowest cost per gigabyte. Right whenever the terminal will not leave that region — it can still move freely inside it.
Global plans
Works across borders and offshore, subject to each territory's regulatory status. Needed the moment the terminal leaves its home region, however briefly.
Looking for a bigger allowance?
These are the five cheapest in each region. The full catalogue, with every tier and the plan-type filter, is on the Starlink plans page. Pooled plans are not listed anywhere — they are priced to the fleet, so they start with a call.
Practicalities
Sizing the allowance
The most common sizing error is averaging. Allowances are consumed in bursts, and the burst is what you are buying for.
1
Size from your busiest week, not your monthly average
Most sites are not limited by total throughput. They are limited by the few days when everyone is on a call and something large is syncing at the same time.
2
Count the machines, not the people
Backups, updates, camera uploads and telemetry consume allowance with nobody sitting at a keyboard. On a site with cameras or sensors this is frequently the larger half.
3
Start one tier below what feels safe
Service continues past the allowance rather than stopping, so under-buying costs you some speed on busy days. Over-buying costs you every month, permanently.
4
Watch the first two months, then adjust
Two billing periods of real usage beats any estimate made in advance. Moving up is straightforward once you have that number.
One thing you do not have to work out
Mobility is included
Every business plan we sell permits use while the terminal is moving. There is no mobility tier, no in-motion add-on and no upgrade path to plan around.
The question is never whether it can move. It is how far it goes.
Because in-motion use is included across the board, movement drops out of the plan decision entirely and the only travel question left is a geographic one: does the terminal stay inside its home region, or does it leave.
- Moving within the home region — a vehicle between depots, a vessel working coastal waters, a dish that relocates every few weeks. A local plan covers all of it.
- Moving beyond the home region — crossing a border, or heading offshore. That is what a global plan is for, and the reason has nothing to do with motion.
- Never stationary in one place — still not a mobility question. Size the region to the furthest point the work reaches.
If you are comparing offers
Worth knowing if you have shopped elsewhere: in-motion use is not always bundled this way, and a plan that looks cheaper on paper can turn out to exclude the thing a fleet or a vessel actually needs. If you are comparing quotes, check what each one permits while moving before comparing the figures.
Several terminals, one allowance
Pooled data
Pooled plans put a single monthly allowance behind several terminals on one account. A quiet month at one site offsets a heavy month at another, and there is one subscription to administer instead of a dozen.
It is worth a conversation rather than a checkout, because the sensible pool size depends on how many terminals you are running, how uneven their usage is, and whether any of them need global coverage or mobility. Those are answers we can give you in a few minutes on the phone and cannot give you from a product page.
Send the site list with rough headcount and whether each one is fixed or mobile, and we will come back with a pool size and the plan mix to go with it.
Afterwards
Changing or cancelling
Plans are month to month unless you have taken a promotional term, which is the main thing to check before you assume you can move.
Moving up a tier
Straightforward, and the usual direction of travel. Two months of real usage tells you more than any estimate made before the site was live.
Moving down a tier
Also straightforward on a standard monthly plan. If you took a promotional term, check what you agreed to before planning around it.
Promotional terms
Some tiers are offered on a fixed 12-month term in exchange for better pricing. Worth taking when the site is certain, worth avoiding when it is not.
In practice
Which plan these operations end up on
The same two questions, answered for the situations we get asked about most. Mobility is included throughout, so in every one of these the only question is how far the work travels.
Fixed sites and yards
A depot, a compound, a construction site with eighteen months on the clock. Stays put, or moves only within the region. Local.
Backup for a fixed line
A second path that does not share a trench with the first. Sits at one address and carries little until the day it carries everything. Local, sized low.
Vessels and offshore
Crew welfare, reporting and safety systems past where cellular gives up, usually across more than one territory. Global.
Fleets and land mobility
Vehicles between depots, on the move all day. Local while the route stays inside the region, global the moment it crosses a border.
Energy, mining and resources
Continuous monitoring and automation, in places chosen for what is under them. Steady load rather than bursty, which makes sizing unusually predictable.
Emergency response
Terrestrial infrastructure is often the casualty. Deployed at short notice, so the plan wants headroom rather than a tight allowance.
Questions
Starlink plans, answered
A local plan is tied to a home region and costs less per gigabyte. A global plan works across borders and at sea, subject to each territory's regulatory status. If the terminal will ever operate outside its home region, it needs a global plan.
Priority data is the share of your monthly allowance that gets precedence when the local cell is congested. It is the figure that distinguishes one plan tier from the next.
Service continues rather than stopping. Traffic beyond the allowance is served at a lower priority than traffic that still has priority data, so it is unaffected most of the time and slower when the local cell is busy.
No. Unlimited means the connection does not cut off when priority data is exhausted. Throughput can still drop at congested times.
Yes. Mobility is included on every business plan we sell, so in-motion use is not a separate permission and not an upgrade. What the plan decides is how far the terminal may travel: a local plan moves freely within its home region, and a global plan moves across borders and at sea.
Not with us. In-motion use is included across the range, so there is no mobility tier to buy and no add-on to remember. If you are comparing quotes elsewhere, it is worth checking what each one permits while moving, because it is not always bundled this way.
Size from your busiest week rather than your monthly average, and count machines as well as people, because backups and telemetry consume allowance with nobody at a keyboard. Because service continues past the allowance, starting one tier below what feels safe is the cheaper mistake.
Yes, on a pooled plan. Multiple terminals draw from a single allowance under one account, which is easier to administer than a separate subscription per site and stops a quiet location's unused data going to waste.
Yes. Plans are month to month unless you have taken a promotional term, and moving up a tier is straightforward. Two billing periods of real usage is a far better guide than an estimate made before the site was live.
Not directly. Speed depends on the satellites overhead and how busy the local cell is. A larger allowance means more of your month is served at priority, which matters most at congested times.
No. We supply business and enterprise service. Residential terms do not permit commercial use, so business service is the correct route for any company.
Yes, and it is worth doing before anything is ordered. Send the site list with locations, whether each is fixed or mobile, and rough headcount, and we will come back with the plan mix. Call (800) 279-2366.
Loading...