Starlink now offers unlimited satellite Internet on Standard plans as SpaceX scraps speed throttling plans

SpaceX appears to have scrapped its idea for throttling Starlink satellite Internet users in the US with high-speed data caps. Those have been scheduled for introduction since December when SpaceX battled Starlink service congestion, then threatened for February, and last they were postponed for "no earlier than April" enforcement.

Now, however, the language in SpaceX's Starlink Internet Fair Use policy section has been changed to reflect a much milder warning while the speed cap mention has been scrubbed from the FAQs altogether.

Back in December, SpaceX ended the unlimited data policy of Starlink and threatened to implement a 1TB standard access allotment after which heavy users had to pay 25 cents per GB to be brought back to full service speeds.

Starlink now simply states that its Residential tier "includes unlimited Standard Data," while the 1TB, 2TB, or 6TB of Priority access data is reserved for the Business tier. Needless to say, the Fair Use Policy still heeds a warning for heavy users:

Starlink seeks to distribute Standard data among our users in a fair and equitable manner. If bandwidth patterns consistently exceed what is allocated to a typical residential user, Starlink may take network management measures, such as temporarily reducing a customer’s speeds, to prevent or mitigate congestion of the Services. Bandwidth intensive applications, such as streaming videos, gaming, or downloading large files are most likely to be impacted by such actions. Standard Service Plan customers with high bandwidth needs should consider upgrading to a Priority Service Plan.

It remains to be seen how this sudden change of heart regarding the high-speed data caps would work in practice. Recently, however, SpaceX boosted Starlink Internet speeds for the lowly Best Effort tier, too, so all those new satellites that it shot into orbit must be having their positive effect on Starlink's capacity.

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