Low Cost Satellite Internet

A look at disaster-proof internet access alternatives or…

Standby satellite service for $5/month?

The Cascadia Earthquake mega disaster will disrupt broad areas of the Oregon coast for weeks at least and perhaps many months. Nobody knows when, only that it may happen soon.

For preparedness purposes, imagine operating from an isolated location with no internet service or cellular coverage. Amateur Radio is one fall-back. Another radio communications solution is satellite internet access. There are several to compare, one that’s genuinely affordable.

Starlink’s official Service Plans page promotes “personal” accounts for $50 to $165 per month and “business” accounts for $65 to $2,150 per month.

Starlink, a division of SpaceX, which has more than 9,000 orbiting satellites. The company has 8 million Internet-access subscribers in 150 countries.

Starlink changed it’s no cost “Pause” mode into a $5/month service in the second half of 2025 calling it “Standby.”

**Starlink Standby mode is available only on “Personal” service plans.

• Standby service permanently replaces Starlink’s “pause” feature. Until late 2025, users of the company’s personal plans were able to pause their satellite service for free. Such users paid nothing — $0/month — during periods when they needed no service.
• Starlink “Standby Mode” is a $5/month service “minimal mode.” The downstream/upstream speed is slow. But it runs 24/7 and you can consume unlimited data all day long.
• $5/month supplies 500Kbps (kilobits per second). Which is sufficient to keep your computer or smartphone online with email, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), texting, and most Web surfing.

Starlink “Standy by mode” is an affordable “emergency backup system” providing email, VoIP, texting, and Web access.

For instance, in a countywide electricity outage, subscribers would still have Internet access via satellite as long as power on site had sufficient battery life to run the gear.

How to get $5 satellite service working…

Some expense is required to get the equipment for Starlink service. The primary cost is for the satellite antenna.

• The Starlink Mini is the smallest satellite dish available. At about 10 by 12 inches and only 1.5 inches thick, it fits into a backpack. It’s designed for the Roam and Roam Unlimited plans, which work in any of the 150 countries Starlink serves. The Mini also supports use in motion, as in a recreational vehicle.
  • The mini runs on 12v to 48v DC input, allowing it to be powered by a vehicle battery or a USB-C power bank.
  • The Mini is designed for the Roam or Roam Unlimited plans. A Roam account ($50/month) is limited to 100Mbps downstream speeds and 50GB of data per month, but you can purchase additional gigabytes. A Roam Unlimited account ($165/month) can support up to 400 Mbps downstream speeds and has no data cap. You can also pay for Ocean Mode, which allows operation farther than 12 nautical miles away from your country’s shoreline.
• The Starlink Standard Kit is intended for fixed use at a registered service address. The dish is larger than the Mini at about 23 by 15 by 1.5 inches. It’s designed for Starlink’s Residential ($120/month) or Residential Lite ($80/month) accounts. Both plans support up to 400Mbps downstream speeds, but Residential Lite customers will receive slower downloads when the service is busy. The Standard Kit includes a Gen 3 Wi-Fi router and requires AC input with a supplied power adapter.
• Business customers buy Local Priority or Global Priority plans, which operate in a single country or multiple countries, respectively, at higher prices than the consumer plans.
• Standby Mode ($5/month for 500 Kbps) is available under any Roam, Residential, or Priority plan. Business customers can pause their accounts, receiving no service and paying no monthly fee.

How to get Starlink’s $5/month Standby Mode

If you manage to get through all of the above, and your new Starlink satellite dish is in hand, the steps to activate Standby Mode are as follows:

• At the Starlink website or mobile app, activate your satellite dish.
• Sign up for a full-service plan, such as the Roam plan. You will be charged $50 for the first month of service. That makes the first year actually cost an average of $8.75 per month. (It’s $50 for the first month plus $5 x 11 months.)
• Log into your account and navigate to “Subscriptions” in the main menu.
• Select “Manage” and then select “Pause Current Service.”
• Choose “Standby Mode” from the list of options and confirm your selection.

The details in a Starlink FAQ titled “How does pausing service work?”

Business and enterprise accounts cannot use the $5/month Standby Mode. Only consumer accounts on a Roam, Roam Unlimited, Residential, or Priority plan can choose this mode.

If you switch to Standby Mode on a Residential account, there’s no guarantee that you can switch back to a higher-speed Residential service if Starlink hits capacity in your area. By contrast, Roam and Priority plans that you switch to Standby Mode can activate a faster mode, regardless of capacity. And activating a higher-paid plan from Standby Mode avoids any demand surcharge.

The $50/month Roam account placed in Standby mode could be a huge advantage in a disaster.

In Standby Mode with only 500Kbps downstream speeds, you’ll never be able to stream high-definition videos or hold group Zoom meetings. But if you just need basic email, VoIP, text, and Web surfing, Standby Mode may be the biggest Internet-access bargain you’ll ever find.

What alternatives to Starlink are available?

At the moment, there are other satellite-based Internet access providers. But they may not yet be widely available or happen to be much more expensive than Starlink:

• Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper). The e-tail giant has launched into low-Earth orbit more than 150 of a planned 3,200 satellites that will compete with Starlink. Amazon plans to begin service in 2026 in five countries: the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany. As many as 26 countries may be served by 2027. The monthly fee is expected to cost around $83 per month. But no one can enroll yet. See Amazon’s November 13, 2025, announcement.
• OneWeb. This subsidiary of Eutelsat, a French satellite operator, has launched 634 satellites — also in low-Earth orbit — but aims to serve primarily business and governmental customers, not consumers. OneWeb’s plans range in cost from $395 to $39,500 monthly. See the Eutelsat website.
• Hughesnet. This is the satellite Internet provider with the longest record, the company having been established 50 years ago. Unfortunately, all of Hughesnet’s satellites are in high, geostationary orbits. That means a latency (delay) of 0.6 to 0.7 second is required for signals to travel from the Earth to the spacecraft and back. (Starlink’s low-Earth orbit enables a round trip to consume only 0.02 to 0.04 second.) Monthly fees range from $40 to $120, with data caps of 100 to 200 GB, per month. See Hughesnet’s plans and pricing page.
• Viasat. Hughesnet competitor. Its consumer plans range from $70 to $300 per month. But its satellites, too, are in high, geostationary orbits. So its service suffers from the same relatively long delays as Hughesnet’s offerings. See Viasat’s plans page.

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Portions of this text and photos adapted from or excerpted from an article by Brian Livingston in Ask Woody.

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PS — I ordered a Mini system today, and plan to give it a whirl at Winter Field Day if it arrives in time. …dgg.