What Starlink’s New Pricing, Data Caps Mean for Priority Customers

Starlink quietly made major revisions to its set of Priority internet plans, which will have a significant effect on customers currently using those plans, especially those who have enjoyed unlimited data. The satellite internet giant recently updated the pricing section of its website and sent an email to Priority plan customers informing them of the change. 

One Priority customer shared an email on Reddit stating that their Priority plan will be moved to a new pricing structure in 30 days. The biggest change is not just new pricing but the elimination of unlimited, non-priority data after the allotted priority data is used up—a key feature for customers who didn’t mind paying for a speed boost.

Previously, Priority plans were split between fixed-location and Mobile. Now, the two options will be known as Local Priority and Global Priority. 

Priority plans have always been marketed for business use. However, individual users could still opt for the more expensive plans if the fastest speeds and priority bandwidth were vital to them. The new Priority plans come with some advantages. Both plans are now mobile, allowing for in-motion usage, with Local allowing for in-region use and Global allowing for international and maritime use. 

However, an unforeseen change to the Priority plans is the removal of standard, unlimited data. Prior to the change, when Priority customers used up their allotment of data, their speeds would revert to non-priority speeds with unlimited data. Priority data gives the user the maximum available speed and gives their connection priority regardless of bandwidth capacity in the area. Standard data was also high-speed but could be subject to slowdowns at peak hours. 

Now, the allotment is a hard cap, after which speeds will be reduced to 1Mbps—just enough to log into your Starlink account. To continue using high-speed internet, customers will have to purchase data blocks.

Besides priority data, other reasons customers prefer Priority plans are for advanced features such as access to a public IP address and port forwarding. Having a public IP address is essential for advanced networking and security features. Customers who run home businesses, host online gaming servers, or establish a VPN to access their home network remotely need a public IP address. Starlink’s non-priority plans use a dynamically generated IP address, which changes every time you get online.

The changes to Priority pricing and data have upset customers, sounding off their frustrations online, with some suspecting that it’s a cash grab or an effort to push home customers off of Priority to Residential to save public IP addresses and priority bandwidth for larger businesses that can afford it. 

“I use priority to have a public ip at home and unlimited data, now your(sic) taking my data, and will throttle me to 1Mbps...” posted a customer on X.

Many users remarked that they got Priority service just for the public IP address and that the lack of unlimited, standard data could be a deal breaker. 

“I originally had standard residential service but switched to the Priority 40GB plan a while back to get a public IP address,” wrote a Reddit user. “Now, Starlink is removing unlimited standard data from Priority plans, which really changes the value for me.”