(Credit: Starlink.com)
In select areas, Starlink's price of admission has hit a new high. Alaskans looking to sign up could face an eye-popping $1,500 fee due to high demand for satellite internet service.
Last year, the one-time "demand surcharge" for Starlink's Residential plan hit $1,000. But this past weekend, a Reddit user spotted the $1,500 figure popping up on Starlink.com for addresses in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Wasilla. The extra fee can bring the total sign-up cost to a staggering $1,869, which includes the $349 standard dish but no monthly internet service.
The extra cost will likely slow Starlink adoption in Alaska until SpaceX can add more capacity through new satellite launches. In the meantime, the company has been using the extra fee to curb user congestion for Starlink’s Residential plan; the satellite internet service has over 2 million users in the US. The demand surcharge was initially $100 but has since been raised to $500, $750, and $1,000 for the most congested areas, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.
But in other parts of the US, where Starlink has excess capacity, you won’t find a congestion fee. This includes Alaska's capital, Juneau. In these regions, Starlink.com is offering essentially no up-front cost to adopt the satellite internet service. Users only need to pay $20 to cover shipping and handling for the Starlink dish, which is provided as a free rental. Meanwhile, in other parts of Alaska, SpaceX is charging $369 for new sign-ups, forcing customers to buy the $349 dish.
It's unclear when the $1,500 fee first appeared. But over the weekend, SpaceX appeared to lower the demand surcharge for other areas of the US. For example, in and around Seattle and Portland, Oregon, the demand surcharge was previously $1,000, but it's now $500, bringing the total up-front cost for new sign-ups to the Residential plan to $869.
(Credit: Starlink.com)
New customers can bypass the demand surcharge by subscribing to a Starlink Roam plan, which lets you use the satellite internet service beyond your home address. But on the downside, the Unlimited Roam plan is more expensive at $165 per month and is subject to speed throttling and even service suspension in congested areas. In contrast, the Residential plans are now $50, $80, or $120 per month, but access to the full tier of options is available only to users in areas with excess capacity.