(Credit: Starlink.com)
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SpaceX has quietly introduced its cheapest Starlink plan yet, a $40-per-month option called Residential 100Mbps.
The new plan is significantly cheaper than the Residential and Residential Lite plans, which cost $120 and $80 per month, respectively, in the US.
The trade-off is that Residential 100Mbps caps the download speed to 100Mbps. "It’s designed as a simpler option for smaller households that don’t require the higher throughput of Residential Lite and/or Residential service," SpaceX says on a support page.
(Credit: Starlink.com)In contrast, Starlink’s website is already indicating that Residential Lite will offer speeds close to 250Mbps, while the Residential plan will deliver broadband at or above 400Mbps. (Actual speeds can be lower, though, as SpaceX's map shows.)
(Starlink.com)Despite the speed cap, the Residential 100Mbps plan also features unlimited data and faces no restriction on upload speeds. “Best suited for 2–3 person households with everyday internet needs such as web browsing, video calls, and HD streaming,” the company added. “It is not designed for heavy users or large households with multiple simultaneous high-bandwidth activities (such as 4K streaming or large game downloads).”
In addition, SpaceX plans to let existing Starlink subscribers switch to the Residential 100Mbps plan, but only "if it appears as an available option in their account.”
(Starlink/Jianping Pan)But for now, the Residential 100Mbps plan is only being offered in certain parts of the US. We plugged in numerous addresses into Starlink.com, but so far haven’t seen the 100Mbps plan pop up as an option, except for in parts of Nebraska.
Jianping Pan, a computer science professor at the University of Victoria in Canada who studies satellite internet systems, also sent us a screenshot, showing Starlink giving existing users in Nebraska the option to switch to Residential 100Mbps plan. Meanwhile, a few Reddit users have also spotted the option appearing in places such as Minnesota and Nevada.
If the 100Mbps plan becomes widely available, it could help SpaceX attract even more users to Starlink at a time when the company has become aggressive in offering various discounts. In July, the Starlink service crossed over 2 million active customers in the US.
The new plan will help Starlink compete with other US ISPs, which typically charge around $80 per month. However, in areas where the satellite internet service faces congestion, SpaceX only offers the standard Residential plan.