Starlink to Increase Prices for Many US Customers (But Some Will Get a Price Cut)

pcmag.com:

SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service is getting a new price increase—$10 more per month for residential subscribers living in “areas with limited capacity."

These customers will soon pay $120 per month for their Starlink internet service. However, users living in “areas with excess capacity” will only need to pay $90 per month, a $20 decrease.

SpaceX notified US customers in a Tuesday email(Opens in a new window). The price changes will roll out to existing subscribers starting on April 24. New subscribers will see the price adjustment immediately.  

In addition, the company is raising the price for Starlink RV, which anyone can subscribe to without going through a waitlist. The service now costs $150 per month, up from $135. 

The price increases will affect many US subscribers. According to Starlink’s own website(Opens in a new window), large swathes of the eastern and western US, where most Americans live, are already at capacity.

SpaceX’s email doesn’t explain why the company is increasing prices. But a year ago, it instituted another price increase, citing inflation. SpaceX is also preparing to build a second-generation constellation for Starlink, which will span thousands of additional satellites and require numerous rocket launches.  

Still, the price increase is upsetting some subscribers, who’ve been experiencing slower internet speeds for Starlink over the past year. The company is essentially telling these users to pay up even more when the median download rate for Starlink subscribers in the US fell to 53Mbps, a decrease from over 100Mbps, according to data from Ookla.  

“My speeds have gone down since I first got it, and my price has gone up twice,” wrote(Opens in a new window) one user on Reddit.