Starlink has begun charging a $10 monthly rental fee for hardware, moving away from its long-standing practice of selling hardware to customers for a one-time fee.
Starlink residential ordering pages now show an upfront hardware cost of $0 and a monthly kit fee of $10, similar to the hardware rental fees long charged by cable and telecom companies. Starlink hardware includes a terminal to receive satellite signals and a router to place in the user’s home.
The monthly kit fee is in addition to Internet service prices, which Starlink recently raised from $5 to $10 per month. Starlink is charging $55 per month for 100Mbps, $85 for 200Mbps, and $130 for the “Max” tier that can go up to 400Mbps. Starlink also offers professional-installation service for a one-time fee of $199 or at no additional charge if you subscribe to the Max plan.
A Starlink support article states that hardware rental is now available “in select countries” and that “Starlink kits can only be rented for residential service plans.” Customers who rent Starlink hardware rather than own it will not be allowed to pause their service. PCMag reported today that the $10 rental fee “appears to be implemented globally, coming to Starlink.com for new customers in the US, Canada, UK, France, Australia, and Mexico.”
We didn’t see any option to buy hardware in the Starlink sign-up page today, but the support article says it’s possible to switch from renting to buying. The support article states, “If you are a current Starlink customer with the Rent Starlink option and wish to purchase your kit, create a support ticket.” Starlink kits are also sold by retailers.
<a href