(Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images)
SpaceX has quietly added a one-time $100 fee increase to Starlink if you’re buying the satellite internet service in an area already full of subscribers.
The company’s Starlink.com site has begun rolling out a new “congestion charge,” which can tack on an extra $100 during the checkout process, depending on your location.
The fee affects customers who sign up for the Starlink residential plan, which costs $120 per month and limits the satellite internet access to a single address.
(Starlink.com)“In areas with network congestion, there is an additional one-time charge to purchase Starlink Residential services,” the company’s support page explains. “This fee will only apply if you are purchasing or activating a new service plan.”
The added fee appears to pop up in numerous states, particularly in the south and eastern US, such as Texas, Florida, Kansas, Ohio and Virginia, among others, which have slower Starlink speeds due to the limited network capacity. In recent years, SpaceX’s satellite internet service has become so popular in the US that the user growth has, at times, strained Starlink’s satellites, resulting in network congestion, which can degrade the broadband quality.
The new congestion fee is already surprising some users, who spotted it on Friday. But in its support page on Starlink.com, SpaceX says: “Our intention is to no longer charge this fee to new customers as soon as network capacity improves. (If you're not satisfied with Starlink and return it within the 30-day return window, the charge will be refunded.)”
The $100 congestion fee is arriving when SpaceX has already been offering a limited $200 nationwide discount on the Starlink dish, bringing the hardware price down to $299 until Oct. 5th.
The company offered the nationwide discount when Starlink’s customer growth in the US may have slowed. The arrival of the $100 congestion fee suggests SpaceX is trying to control the growth —or at least rake in some more revenue— without overloading the Starlink network, which now spans over 6,000 operationally active satellites.
The $100 fee can also be tacked on when activating a new Starlink dish. So it doesn’t look like consumers will be able to bypass the fee when purchasing Starlink through a third-party retailer such as Best Buy or Target.