Starlink Lowers Price of Dish Again to $349, Suspends Regional Discounts

Update 10/9/2024: Starlink has suspended the Regional Savings program, likely due to high demand. The entry on Starlink's website now reflects the program only being available in Canada. Starlink kits in qualifying states now cost $349. The $100 Congestion Charge for customers in high-usage regions remains. We will continue updating this story as it develops.

Sell! Sell! Sell! That’s the order of the day at Starlink, which has reduced the price of its Standard kit from $499 to $349 in the U.S. 

Starlink announced changes to its Regional Savings program. New customers in select states can now receive an additional $100 service credit, reducing their first month of service to $249.  

As per Starlink’s style, the Standard Kit’s price quietly dropped in August without any official announcement or marketing push. Starlink made the Regional Savings program known through a support post on the website. It’s unknown if the standard price drop will be permanent or how long the Regional Savings program will last. Starlink may seem to implement price changes and discounts on a whim but usually targets specific regions with lower demand.

Before you jump in, there are a few things to note about the Regional Savings program. First, it's only available to residents of specific states, which are listed below. Second, the program applies only to the Standard residential service, with the option to switch to Priority or Mobile after six months.

Here is a list of states in the Regional Savings program at the time of publishing:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut 
• Deleware 
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Nebraska

• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Vermont
• Wyoming

If you wish to take advantage of the $100 credit but don’t live in one of the selected states, you’re out of luck. If a Starlink kit is purchased with a service address in a qualifying state but then changed to an address outside the Regional Savings areas, the account will be charged the remainder of the full price.

Why the sudden discounts that could cut Starlink’s startup cost in half? Starlink enthusiast and blogger Noah Clarke believes these targeted discounts are for areas with less demand. 

“We’ve seen similar promotions around the world throughout Starlink’s history,” Clarke writes. “Typically, in places with lower demand for services, Starlink will try to compete with existing ISPs by reducing the price of the service and/or hardware.”

The Regional Savings program can also be applied to customers who buy from a retailer such as Best Buy or Home Depot. After activation, the buyer will receive a credit equal to the amount of the state's discount (almost two months of service on the house). 

Congestion Charge Makes Starlink More Expensive

Unfortunately, while there are significant discounts for many new customers, some may pay much more if they live in areas that experience high bandwidth congestion on Starlink's network. Customers may pay a $100 "congestion charge" when they activate a kit in these areas. Unlike the Regional Savings areas, Starlink doesn't indicate where these are and how long these fees will be imposed. The company has stated that this charge is temporary and will no longer be implemented once the network improves its capacity.