Starlink Has a New Discounted Family Plan — but Only if You Get the Invite [CNET]

View Article on CNET

Some lucky Starlink subscribers will soon be able to add another subscription to their account for a discount, according to a new support page entry on its website. 

The family plan, first reported by PCMag, is only available by invitation to residential US customers. Starlink hasn’t said how much the discount will be — only that it applies to both Starlink Kits and monthly internet subscriptions — but a Reddit sleuth found the discounted plan will be $100 by looking at the code of the order page. 

The support page also says, “All subscriptions will be billed together on your account’s billing day of the month.”

Starlink has rarely budged on its prices over the past few years, but the new family plan is the second discount it’s introduced in just the past few months. In June, it slashed the price of its satellite dish from $499 to $299 in 29 states with “abundant network availability.” 

starlink-family-plan
Starlink/Screenshot by CNET

Family plans are a new phenomenon in the internet world — you usually only see them with cellphone and streaming services. Starlink’s family plan looks similar to Netflix’s, which allows users to add an extra member to their account for a discounted rate of $8 a month. Reddit users who use Starlink on farms said the discount would be welcome news on their properties, which require multiple dishes. 

“To maintain eligibility for a discounted service plan, you must continuously subscribe to a full-price service plan,” the support page says. “If you cancel the full-price service plan, the discount will be immediately removed from a family plan subscription.”

Starlink hasn’t said how they will determine who is invited to participate in the family plan or when the invitations will go out. I reached out to SpaceX for comment but did not immediately hear back. I’ll continue to update this story as more details emerge.