Does Starlink Internet Have a Data Cap – Let Us Find Out

Noah Clark

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Does Starlink Internet Have a Data Cap?

The world is experiencing a faster and more sophisticated technological advancement than ever.

Thanks to developers, we can now comfortably get internet from outer space via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet. 

However, unavoidable circumstances facing other Internet Service Providers have also affected Starlink users.

It brings us to the question, does Starlink Internet have a data cap? 

In the section below, we’ll talk about Starlink’s data cap.

Table of Contents

Since February 2023, Starlink implemented a fair use policy OR data cap in Canada and USA.

The data cap is a de-prioritization termed Priority Access, not a hard data cap.

The policy states that a Starlink fixed/residential user receives 1TB of Priority Access monthly.

Then, based on your Starlink plan, the Priority Access might vary.

Generally, offering customers balanced, quality, and fair internet service is significant.

In other words, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ensure fairness by providing a balanced demand and supply across a specific location.

In that way, every user will benefit from internet connections.

However, sometimes it appears as if heavy internet users consume more internet for the specific bandwidth amount compared to others.

(Using the internet for business - considered heavy internet usage)

(Using the internet for business – considered heavy internet usage)

Introducing a data cap, therefore, enables a fair distribution and limitation of data in a specified region.

Subsequently, Starlink will be able to balance the supply with every user’s demand, thereby distributing high-speed internet to everyone.

Data Cap/Fair Use Policy

The policy applies to both Starlink residential and business users and is as follows;

  1. For Starlink Residential 
  • A user receives 1TB of Priority Access data each month.
  • Pat, the 1TB Starlink residential users will pay $0.25 per GB of the data.
  • You will be placed in an unlimited ‘basic access’ category if you no longer have Priority Access data.
  • Finally, you’ll only use the priority access data between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. since those are the peak hours.

Further Explanation;

During peak hours, you’ll have less priority than other users with priority access data left when you finish your month’s data.

Basic Access is the low-priority data.

Normally, 536GB of data monthly is enough for an average household in the US.

Regardless of the household (even in case of high internet use), monthly consumption often doesn’t exceed 2TB.

Basic Access Data

Note; Basic access data only works during peak hours (Between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.).

The speed of Basic access data relies majorly on the cell congestion in that specific location.

You can figure this out by checking for a Starlink waitlist in your region. The longer the waitlist, the lower the speeds.

  1. Starlink business

Unfortunately, Starlink is yet to launch the details for the new business 500, 1000, and 3000 business plans.

Presently, the fair use policy is 1TB per month.

But have it in mind that the additional priority access will be $1 per GB, four times more than for residential use.

Other users of Starlink’s data cap:

  • Maritime
  • Aviation service plans

Since Best Effort, Portability, and RV users have always had deprioritized internet data, they will have no Priority Access allocation.

Nevertheless, they’ll employ unlimited Basic access data.

Stepwise explanation

  1. If Starlink rolls out the fair use policy, every user will begin their month’s usage with priority access data.
  2. Next, after exhausting the 1TB of priority access, a user’s account automatically shifts to Basic Access data.
  3. Moreover, you can log in to the Starlink website or app to know the amount of monthly data you’ve used. The data usage will be on display.

Note; As evident here, Basic Access has less precedence compared to priority access data.

However, you will still experience unlimited data usage with Basic Access.

A disadvantage of using Basic Access over Priority Access data is that, during network congestions, the former gets less network preference and slower speeds.

Ultimately, it might interfere with the performance of some online activities, like streaming videos, and unavailability/degradation of other third-party applications or services.

Quiet periods

Contrarily, when there’s no congestion, you should not encounter the difference in speed and quality of Basic or Priority data access. 

Despite data caps not being ideal, it’s worthwhile to consider the quantity and type of data going through a 1 Terabyte data cap.

Often, the results depend on your activity and the duration it’ll rake when blasting through the 1TB cap.

For instance, almost all online gaming utilizes approximately 100MB/hour, which means to exhaust your data allowance fully, you’ll take about 10,000 hours.

However, the Priority Access will significantly reduce if you add some AAA game downloads, averaging about 100GB.

Likewise, watching 4k content will use around 7GB of data/hour, whereas HD content on Netflix only goes up to 3GB/hour.

Watching a movie

(Watching a movie)

Some users who stream on multiple devices (like in a large family) will find 1B fast and restrictive.

Contrarily, 1TB may be ample for other users.

Can I purchase additional Priority Access?

Short answer; Yes. Getting the extra Priority Access data to help improve the data limit is possible.

You can pay through the Starlink.com account dashboard or the Starlink app.

It goes for about $0.25 per GB for residential customers.

Starlink app

(Starlink app)

Also, note that you will approve an automated billing of extra Priority Access.

As a result, you’ll get an automatic bill for additional Priority Access once you reach the data limit.

Moreover, you can cancel the billing at your convenience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Data cap introduction has reduced the slow internet speeds in the US, which was occurring due to the high demand for services. 

If you want more information about Starlink, kindly visit our website for wholesome content.