Starlink Internet Review: Is Elon’s Satellite Internet Worth It?

Elon Musk is known mainly for ushering in the electric car revolution and launching advanced rockets into space. What many people don’t know is that the billionaire entrepreneur is also behind one of the fasted-growing internet providers in the world, Starlink.

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It can be tempting to dismiss Starlink as yet another satellite internet service like Viasat and HughesNet. That, however, would be a huge mistake because Starlink relies on a massive satellite constellation and low-Earth orbit technology to deliver a fiber-like experience to increasingly many parts of the world.

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Starlink Internet Plans and Pricing

Starlink Internet Coverage

Starlink Internet Fees & Bonuses

Starlink Customer Service & Satisfaction

Summary

FAQ

Starlink Internet Plans and Pricing

The table below lists all Starlink internet plans that are available at the time of writing this review:

Plan	Download speed	Price	One-time hardware cost	Data cap
Starlink Residential	Up to 250 Mbps	$110.00 per month	$599	None
Starlink Business	Up to 500 Mbps	$500.00 per month	$2,500	None
Starlink RV	Up to 250 Mbps	$135 per month	$599	None
Starlink Maritime	Up to 350 Mbps	$5,000	$10,000	None

Plan	Starlink Residential
Download speed	Up to 250 Mbps
Price	$110.00 per month
One-time hardware cost	$599
Data cap	None
Plan	Starlink Business
Download speed	Up to 500 Mbps
Price	$500.00 per month
One-time hardware cost	$2,500
Data cap	None
Plan	Starlink RV
Download speed	Up to 250 Mbps
Price	$135 per month
One-time hardware cost	$599
Data cap	None
Plan	Starlink Maritime
Download speed	Up to 350 Mbps
Price	$5,000
One-time hardware cost	$10,000
Data cap	None

Starlink offers four plans, and each plan targets a different market segment. Most customers who live in remote areas and are looking for a reliable internet service will be interested in the residential Starlink plan, which costs $110.00 per month and requires a one-time purchase of a Starlink base station for $599.

Businesses that want more bandwidth than what the residential plan offers (up to 250 Mbps) can go with the business plan instead to get download speeds of up to 500 Mbps. The Starlink Business plan costs $500 a month and requires a beefier and more expensive base station (a one-time purchase of $2,500).

People who live or frequently travel in RVs can get the Starlink RV plan for $135 per month (+ a $599 base station). Finally, Starlink has a plan aimed at everyone from merchant vessels to oil rigs to premium yachts. The Starlink Maritime plan costs $5,000 a month, and it requires a special base station that can be yours for $10,000.

All Starlink plans — from the Starlink Residential plan to the most expensive Starlink premium plan — are completely unlimited, which means that you can download and upload as much data as you need without any throttling.

Compared with its closest satellite competitors, Viasat and HughesNet, whose speeds are five or six times slower, Starlink offers a much better user experience, and the huge rate at which its already sizable constellation of satellites is expanding means that it will only keep getting better and better.

Note: Subaru Starlink in-vehicle technology has nothing to do with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service.

Starlink Internet Coverage

Starlink satellite internet services are available in the following locations:

**Available in:**
United States	Canada	United Kingdom	Germany
New Zealand	Australia	France	Austria
Netherlands	Belgium	Ireland	Denmark
Chile	Portugal	Switzerland	Poland
Italy	Czech Republic	Sweden	Mexico
Croatia	Lithuania	Spain	Slovakia
Slovenia	Tonga	Brazil	Bulgaria
Ukraine	Romania	Greece	Latvia
Hungary	North Macedonia

You can check the Starlink internet availability map to see where exactly the satellite internet service is currently available.

Generally, you can expect great coverage if you live between the 33.6° and 54.9° latitudes. Starlink currently has over 2,500 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit, which together provide access to over 400,000 subscribers.

The first-generation network is supposed to consist of 4,408 Starlink internet satellites, and Elon Musk plans to launch as many as 42,000 satellites. The more satellites Starlink will have in orbit, the more filled in the Starlink coverage map will be.

If you’re not lucky enough for Starlink to already be available where you live, then you secure a spot on the waitlist by paying a deposit (from $99 to $500, depending on the Startling plan you want to purchase). Once the Starlink service becomes available in your area, you can expect to receive your own Starling router within two weeks.

Starlink Internet Fees & Bonuses

Starlink keeps things nice and simple by not requiring customers to sign a contract — a practice most other satellite internet service providers seem to love.

The only extra expense you need to keep in mind is the cost of the Starlink dish and router combo, which starts at $599 and goes all the way up to $10,000, depending on which plan you choose.

The Starlink WiFi router is decent when compared with routers provided by most other internet service providers, but it’s not as good as today’s cutting-edge WiFi 6 routers. Fortunately, you can configure it to operate in bypass mode and use your own router instead to boost your Starlink internet speeds.

If you decide to go this route, then we highly recommend you use a wireless network analyzer like NetSpot to optimize the placement and configuration of your router to achieve the best performance and coverage possible.

Just like the Starlink satellite internet service, NetSpot is designed to deliver a fantastic user experience, allowing even regular home users with no expert IT skills to achieve great results.

Starlink Customer Service & Satisfaction

Most traditional internet service providers give their customers multiple options on how to contact customer service — but not Starlink.

On its website, you won’t find any Starlink customer service phone number or email address. In fact, Starlink customer service can only be reached using the official mobile app (available for Android and iOS).

The poor availability of Starlink’s customer service is reflected in many Starlink reviews published on websites like Trustpilot and ProductReview.com.au by real users.

Starlink users also often complain about the results of Starlink speed tests being much lower than the speeds the satellite internet provider advertises on its website.

Here are just three Starlink internet reviews that were recently published on Trustpilot :

Terrible, downloaded the app to check the availability in my area, showed strong availability so i took the plunge, the idea of 150-300mb was fantastic. how wrong was I.

• James Cooke

Terrible. No customer service whatsoever, just a half dozen FAQ’s that might have been written by a teenager in an hour. Speed dropped within a month to under 30M, which is worse than my last supplier, but at three times the cost! Not to mention the up front money for the kit. Totall utter arrogance. Knew i shouldn’t have bought anything from Musk!! Don’t bother.

• Andrew Smales

Customer service isn't part of the service. Yes, the internet speed is pretty good when it works. But when something goes wrong there's no support and no apologies. It's like Elon Musk himself has written the playbook. Don't buy into starlink unless you're prepared to pay ££ even if the service isn't working.

• Tom Baldwin

Summary

Starlink internet promises a next-generation satellite internet experience with fiber-like speeds (there’s no Starlink fiber internet) and no download/upload limits.

The actual experience can be a hit or miss, depending on your geographic location, the placement of the Starlike base station, and even the configuration of your WiFi router.

The good news is that Starlink offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so the initial Starlink internet cost is easier to swallow.

FAQ

Is Starlink faster than normal internet?

The average U.S. internet speed is around 100 Mbps, and Starlink promises speeds of up to 500 Mbps. In reality, however, Starlink users experience major speed fluctuations, so their average speed is much lower than the maximum achievable speed. That said, Starlink is much faster than traditional satellite internet service providers like Viasat and HughesNet.

Is Starlink better than internet providers?

Starlink offers a satellite internet service backed by a growing network of low-Earth orbit satellites. It’s a great option for people who live in remote areas where DSL and fiber internet isn’t available, but it doesn’t make sense for people who live in cities and other places where traditional internet providers operate.

How much does Starlink cost?

Starlink starts at $110 a month, but you also need to purchase the necessary satellite dish and router for $599.

How do I check my Starlink coverage?

You can check your Starlink coverage using the official coverage map.

Starlink Internet Review: Is Elon’s Satellite Internet Worth It?

Starlink Internet Plans and Pricing

Starlink Internet Coverage

Starlink Internet Fees & Bonuses

Starlink Customer Service & Satisfaction

Here are just three Starlink internet reviews that were recently published on Trustpilot :

Summary

FAQ

Is Starlink faster than normal internet?

Is Starlink better than internet providers?

How much does Starlink cost?

How do I check my Starlink coverage?

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