Starlink Unexpectedly Hikes UK and Global LEO Satellite Broadband Prices
The often frequently changeable pricing and package structure of SpaceX’s Starlink service, which offers ultrafast broadband in the UK and around the globe via a massive constellation of compact satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), has changed again and not for the better. Most UK plans will soon go up by £5 extra per month and some features have doubled in price.
The change was spotted yesterday after Starlink began issuing emails to existing customers (new customers will already see the increase), which referenced the service’s recent improvements and then spoke of a need for some “adjustment” to “support ongoing improvements and investment in affordable, high-performance products and services as global operating costs continue to rise“.
Starlink currently has nearly 10,400 satellites in orbit – mostly at altitudes of between c.340-550km. Residential customers in the UK previously paid from £35 a month for the ‘Residential 100Mbps’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which also promises uploads of c.15-35Mbps and low latency connectivity. Faster packages exist at greater cost, while more restrictive (data capped) options also exist for roaming users (e.g. previously £50 per month for 100GB of data).
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The bad news is that most of Starlink’s broadband and roaming packages have suddenly increased their monthly pricing by +£5. The move is particularly surprising on the cheapest entry-level £35 Residential 100Mbps plan, as it only launched a few short months ago in January 2026 (here). Credits to PC Mag and Thinkbroadband for spotting.
In addition, the Standby Mode feature, which allows customers to remain connected to the service – even if they aren’t currently planning to use it for anything heavy, at a significantly reduced speed (0.5Mbps) for unlimited data (handy as a quick backup mode) – also appears to have effectively doubled in cost from £4.50 per month to £9. This makes it less desirable as an option. Customers can of course still cancel and then restart the service at a later date, but that process is a bit more laborious.
Starlinks Email to Customers
Upcoming Price Adjustment
Starlink is rapidly increasing network capacity, expanding coverage, and improving reliability to deliver faster, more consistent connectivity.
Strong demand for Starlink reflects the value customers continue to see in the service. This adjustment supports ongoing improvements and investment in affordable, high-performance products and services as global operating costs continue to rise.
Beginning with your next billing cycle on or after June 18, the monthly price for your plan will increase to [new +£5 price for customer’s plan]. You will continue to enjoy unlimited data for 4K streaming, gaming, video calls, and high-speed connectivity.
…
Note: If your service is currently receiving promotional, introductory, or discounted pricing, your monthly price will remain unchanged until that pricing period ends. Once your promotion or discount concludes, your plan will transition to the new standard monthly price applicable in your region.
One subtle difference we’ve observed is that a few customers have received a slightly different email, which instead starts with this line before the “strong demand..” part kicks in: “Pricing has remained unchanged for most Residential customers for the past several years, and..“. This wording may be specific to certain customers or something that Starlink simply cut out later, perhaps after realising that their pricing and packages in some countries has varied quite a lot.
The changeable pricing we’re seeing to Starlink will no doubt have an impact on both how attractive the service is to consumers and how much trust consumers feel they can place in the provider, especially to those who may struggle to afford the higher rates or were only recently attracted to the service after it introduced a cheap 35Mbps tier. On the flip side, we suspect that some of the provider’s rivals will be quietly pleased to see Starlink become a bit less competitive on pricing.
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One other oddity is that a lot of UK customers received the new package pricing email with their prices listed in USD $ rather than GBP £, although the core figures appear to have still been correct.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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It’s a if they have been giving kit away free and renting it cheap – and then someone thought an IPO would be good timing.
Oh wait..
But yes £40 a month is still good compared to what my dad can get – which is 21mbps on FTTC out in the country. They want £33,99 and SL want £40 for 100mbps – the good thing is it does actually sustain 110/20 24/7
I signed up in March for the £25mo fixed for 6 months offer. Presumably this remains the case, otherwise that would have been false advertising.
It does – however this deal and the IPO are likely the reasons why. I paid £189 for my mini and £499 for my gen 2 dish and that’s without any service
Probably trying to get ahead and make some extra money before Amazon LEO launches.
If Leo can offer something better for me then starlink for my needs i’ll jump. Otherwise i’ll lose the advantage that satellite Internet gives me and just move back over to a 5G system for my backup Internet. Currently only using starlink cause a failover which makes it very expensive now at £40 a month last month I used less than 10 GB of traffic. And most of that was the automated speed tests in paig tests to make sure the connection is still.
There seems to be some mixed messages coming out of SL. Some people are reporting that standby isn’t increasing in price here in the UK.
It’s showing as £9 a month on my portal.
It’s all up by £5 a month
That’s not what the email i received this morning said!
Most people who tend to use Starlink are because they cannot get anything via more traditional means. E.g. people out in the sticks on copper broadband with very long links to the nearest exchange point and therefore getting sub 10Mbps speeds.
Under those circumstances it’s a case of, use Starlink at whatever price they charge, try messing about with 4G/5G (and hope the signal is strong enough/speeds fast enough), or be stuck on antique broadband.
This is exactly my position being in the Highlands. Using 4g was ok until I had video calls so had to leap to SL for £35 which has been excellent. Will have to hope for no more increases for at least a year.
I’m on max and have indeed received email about max plan and standby plan are increasing. £5 and £4.50 a month . Email did say dollars as mentined. Not particularly impressed seeing as I only had it 2 months or so but, like others, I don’t really have a choice. The standby plan doubling in price is a bit of a joke though tbh especially as the speed stays the same.
And they removed the in motion bit.
I received an email telling me my standby plan is going up in price.
I don’t use it at all, was only for emergencies… which I will just gamble on needing to use it, on the very rare time I need it given where it is (not at my house).
So, I cancelled it 🙂
That, and cancelling godawful Sky Stream today means I’m saving £50 a month. Not a bad days work!
I have just moved off my BT broadband contract and its useless FTTC at almost £50/m.
Living in rural Lake District all the usual broadband providers offer awful speeds but high prices. And therefore SL was the only realistic option as none of the providers, not even Fibrus, have any intention of upgrading up to full fibre due to cost.
I am on the Rezi 100Mbs package, and even though it’s gone up by a fiver, it still cheaper than BT. Troubles is, SL have me over the barrel because I don’t want to go back to traditional FTTC due to speed and cost. But I hope they don’t start taking advantage of this and simply ramp up the price by another fiver every few months.
SL need a strong competitor in the satellite network. Amazon LEO might just be that rival, which will hopefully keep prices competitive.
Same here. FTTC was far to slow for our needs and with son moving back in short-term and needing decent upload speeds for his YouTube channel we went with the £75/month Res max option which email received overnight says will go up to £80 now. Fortunately son is about to head back overseas so we won’t need to speed so intend to change to one of the lower priced options so £40/month sounds quite good for speed compared to the FTTC options available.
Think there may be more going on, my subscription has gone from £35/month to $40/month which shows as £29.70 within the app, so actually a decrease for me
The amount of £29.70 is before 20% VAT is added
Yes that is odd – you are right.
Mine is showing as £29,17 on the 100Mbps plan. I will see what it does on the 22nd which is my billing date, thanks for pointing that out.
That said it’s showing MAX as being £62.50/ mo on the app for me
Glad the dish at my partners parents I set up for them is only €17 a month for the next year and half (ends December 2027) due to a promo pricing agreement to get me to set it back up. plus it being a EU dish doubt they will mess with the pricing due to the consumer law over there. Sucks for me over in the UK though guess I should look and see if 5G broadband has got better local to me
Where was the 36mbs deal advertised? I’ve only seen 100mbs and faster.
It absolutely is false advertising. I ordered just over a week ago at £35 a month. Before I’ve even got a date for my kit to arrive, I get an email telling me my subscription is being raised to £40 a month, and that this is because of all the wonderful value I’ve received. When I complained about this, I was told again, that my price is being raised due to the amazing value I’ve received, despite this being completely illogical. How is that not false advertising.
They lowered the price to get people to sign up, then immediately raise it once we’re locked in and dependent on them. I’m only signing up at all because BT and Openreach cannot provide me a service at all. In November, when I was having the same issues, and after 8 months already of no broadband, I looked at Starlink at the time, and was completely put off, by the £450 kit fee, £75 a month charge and an additional £300 fee for what they called a “high demand surcharge”, which as far as I could see was simply taking advantage of people who had no option. When I saw they had lowered their prices to a more reasonable level, and got rid of the made up advantage taking charges, I thought perhaps they had become more trustworthy, I’m thinking now I was right the first time.
It’s bad enough not being able to get even a basic service, let alone being held to ransom by these companies. There is literally nothing to stop them hiking the prices at any point and doing this over and over again, that’s the issue, and those of us who have no option, because BT and Openreach are the other monopoly involved, and aren’t fulfilling their promises of installing fibre optic cable, for the umpteenth year running, are going to be screwed, one way or the other.
Openreach aren’t a monopoly. Not only can an altnet dig up the streets themselves, they can also pay Openreach for duct and pole access. It isn’t Openreach’s problem that no one else wants to service you.
Not sure they’ve ever made anything constituting a promise, but thousands of homes per week are getting fibred up
Perhaps a complaint that needs to be tested:
https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html
How are Openreach a monopoly?
Petulant Mr Musk does it deliberately, he’s a very childish and incredibly immature man.