I'm considering using Starlink for an internet connection. I put in my address and found that the start-up charge would be $488, which includes a $100 "congestion charge." Starlink explains the congestion charge as "due to network congestion in your area, there is an additional one-time charge to purchase Starlink Residential services. Our intention is to no longer charge this fee to new customers as soon as network capacity improves."
Have others encountered this extra charge? Anyone heard anything about when it might go away?
Is Starlink slow because of congestion?
How could our area (whatever our area is) be congested?
Home Depot in Boulder sells the standard kit for $349. They might charge the congestion fee on activation, but its not part of the hardware purchase. I bought mine there 2 years ago and it was $500 I think.
Hi Joe,
We have had Starlink for about a year, and have not seen any congestion issues to speak of. Dina uses it for work for video calls and uploading/downloading decent file sizes, and we have streaming services that have not shown any issues. We did not have an extra charge for congestion when we signed up, but I think the initial startup fee for equipment was still around $500. Overall quality and reliability have been good.
Patrick
We are really happy with starlink - much faster and more reliable than Nedernet was. The congestion charge goes both ways, per Ars Technica (link below). There is a $100 discount where they have extra capacity. Sounds like you can get some promotional discounts to offset that charge as well.
People may not like Elan’s style, and no one is required to buy his products. But I’d like to point out that Elon Musk has been donating starlink kits where natural disasters have struck (North Carolina, California). And starlink has been a game changer for access in many remote areas where high speed internet is not available, despite government dollars and mandates to make it so. Appreciate leaving politics out of BB conversations, especially when his track record deploying this product when emergency services are needed is exemplary.
Hollis, I don't know how many people are on StarLink up here in the Bar-K. Got at least one response from a Bar-K neighbor.
Jsullivan, I have now read that StarLink does tack on the congestion charge for Starlink equipment bought from retailers (e.g., Home Depot).
Patrick, thanks for the details about the lack of congestion (i.e., connection speeds adequate for various typical uses).
calbeartara, thanks for the comparison of speed and service with Nedernet (that's what we've been using for quite a while). The Ars Technica article you linked does cite a "capacity crunch" for Starlink, and other tech sources commented about Starlink not being able to deliver on its promised speeds because of too many connections in some areas. The Ars Technica article (written in Sept 2024) stated that the monthly fee for congested areas is $90 instead of $120 -- that does not appear to be the case now -- Starlink now wants $120 per month in addition to the $100 congestion charge.
Part of deciding between Nedernet and Starlink (our only two options here in the Bar-K, I believe) is service. After one of the power outages last week, our internet connection would not come back on. I called Nedernet to check on their transmitter status, which they said was good, and when we couldn't resolve why we could not receive the signal, they sent a staffer over to check our antenna. He got here in about a half-hour, found that the problem was our router (somehow "died" at the same time as the power outage despite being plugged into a battery backup), and replaced and set up our spare router for no fee. I have read that Starlink would not provide that kind of service; indeed, that's it's hard to get a return email from Starlink. Any comments on Starlink service in case of a problem?
