Compass Vermont, whose HQ is in rural Vermont, relies on Starlink to ensure high-speed internet, knowing it will take many years, if ever, for broadband expansion to make it to all the dirt road residences in the Green Mountain State.
Join our free news email list - cancel anytime
We received a rather quickly written email last week, skipping the greeting and getting directly to the point:
The Starlink monthly service for residential customers is changing as follows:
- $20 decrease in areas with excess capacity. New price will be $90/month.
- $10 increase in areas with limited capacity. New price will be $120/month.
As a current customer in an area with excess capacity, your monthly service price will decrease to $90/month beginning today.
It was a rare instance where living in a rural area featured a price break rather than a bump.
According to Starlink Hardware, "you can browse the Starlink availability map, find your location, and hover over it with the cursor to check capacity. The map is also color coded. As you can see from the image above, most of the populated areas in the United States are low/limited capacity. The vast majority of Residential and RV customers in the US will see a price increase."
In Vermont, a cluster in the northern, central part of the state now has low or limited capacity. At the same time, Burlington and its surrounding communities are shown as having plenty of capacity, presumable because most residents rely on broadband services already available.
"Another change that wasn’t announced in the email is the elimination of the Portability add-on for Residential and Business service plans. Portability was a feature that allowed Residential customers to travel with their dish, away from the registered service address, for short periods of time. For an extra $25/month, Portability was similar to RV. The add-on could be turned on and off as needed. Portability is no longer an option in the Starlink Account Portal for Residential and Business customers in the US," according to the publication.
