Starlink moving subscribers of $10/month data plan to $5 Standby Mode

Starting is removing the cheapest available monthly fee from its full-speed satellite Internet data plan options. The plan costs only $10/month and is the lowest price one can get Starlink for at the highest 100 Mbps download speed while roaming.

The $10/month Starlink Roam plan got introduced less than a year ago and was originally scheduled to help Mini dish owners who'd only occcasionally need satellite Internet as an emergency backup in areas without cellular coverage. It, however, comes with 10 GB of data at full speed and $2 per GB after that, which turned out to be more than enough for many users who didn't bother to upgrade to the higher $50/month Roam tier.

Starlink isn't having it and is now warning users of its $10 plan that they will be automatically switched to the $5 Standby Mode since their usage pattern indicates that this would be enough to fulfil their needs.

The Standby Mode is not a plan, though. It used to be a free service where the Starlink user didn't have any data allotment, but could pause and resume service at will after their contract expired, if any. Starlink, however, morphed the free Pause option into a $5/month Standby Mode and said it is offering unlimited low-speed data during standby to compensate.

The low satellite Internet speed is really low, though, at 1 Mbps downloads and 0.5 Mbps uplink, which is only good for checking the occasional email if needed. Starlink will now be morphing the $10/month Roam plan with 10 GB full-speed data to the $5 Standby Mode with inlimited 1 Mbps data, too, 30 days after subscribers of its cheapest plan receive the notice.

Besides the $10 plan, Starlink also recently ceased to offer the $40/month option that was its cheapest Residential plan and moved it to the Roam roster but only for certain users. It was subsequently removed altogether, while Starlink doubled the basic $50/month roaming data allotment and cut the Mini dish price by 20% as a compensation.

In any case, in less than 30 days the cheapest Starlink satellite Internet plan will no longer be the $10 Roam option that comes with 10 GB at full speed, but rather the $50/month basic roaming option that offers 100 GB and unlimited low-speed Internet after that.