Starlink Australia
Starlink is giving other satellite internet options in Australia a run for their money. However, you'll need to be prepared to spend at least $75 a month on plan fees.
Key takeaways
- Starlink is now widely available across Australia
- You can pay for its hardware upfront or rent it for a smaller monthly fee
- It advertises download speeds between 25Mbps and 220Mbps depending on the plan you choose and offers unlimited data
What is Starlink?
Starlink is a private satellite internet service launched by Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX.
SpaceX plans to have thousands of low-Earth satellites forming a global cluster capable of delivering internet services to just about any spot on the planet.
It aims to eventually provide high-speed broadband to customers worldwide who can't get a decent internet connection from existing technologies.
- Why this matters: There are potentially faster internet speeds up for grabs for Australians living in regional and rural areas, where you're more likely to be on NBN satellite or fixed wireless with lacklustre speeds.
How does Starlink work?
Starlink operates through a network of low-Earth orbit satellites that bounce signals from your equipment back to ground stations on earth, completing a broadband connection.
Because Starlink satellites are closer to the earth than other satellite services, the signals should take less time to reach them. This in turn should give households a faster connection.
As of February 2023, SpaceX has launched more than 3,800 Starlink satellites in orbit. It has permission to deploy 12,000 more and hopes to seek further approval for another 30,000 satellites.
Where is Starlink available in Australia?
Starlink launched in Australia in April 2021, specifically focusing trial efforts in northern Victoria and southern New South Wales.
It has since expanded to 20 Starlink ground stations in the country and the company says most people around the states and territories can access its services.
Here's a look at Starlink's coverage map for Australia.
Alternatively, you can head to Starlink's website and enter your address to see if it's accessible at your property.
How much does Starlink cost in Australia?
Residential Starlink plans in Australia cost $139 per month for unlimited data.
However, you’ll need to buy or rent hardware to access the services. Your options include:
- Paying $549 upfront or $299 for refurbished hardware
- Renting the hardware for $19 a month
Telstra's Starlink internet plan now available
Thanks to its partnership with Starlink, Telstra is finally selling satellite internet plans and voice services to rural and remote Australians as of 26 March 2024.
It'll cost $125 a month, while Starlink's residential plans start from $75 a month. However, Telstra will cap download speeds at 50Mbps, whereas Starlink advertises download speeds of up to 200Mbps on Residential Lite and up to 400+Mbps on Residential.
Read our full overview of Telstra's satellite internet plan to see if it's right for you.
How much is Starlink for businesses?
Starlink offers a couple of other plans that are better suited to businesses or high-demand users.
Starlink Priority
This will suit businesses that are based in just one location. The monthly price will depend on the priority data limit you choose.
After that runs out, you’ll have access to unlimited standard data.
- Priority 500GB: $236 per month
- Priority 1TB: $374 per month
- Priority 2TB: $748 per month
- Priority 2TB: $806 per month
You also get a public IP, network priority and priority support.
Starlink Mobile Priority
This plan caters to mobile businesses or is best suited for maritime, emergency response.
Some of the features are similar to Starlink Priority such as network priority and priority support.
A key difference is you get access to a global service in motion with unlimited global data inland, plus ocean use.
You can expect to pay:
- Mobile Priority 50GB: $374 per month
- Mobile Priority 1TB: $748 per month
- Mobile Priority 5TB: $1,486 per month
- Mobile Priority 50GB: $395 per month
How fast is Starlink internet in Australia?
Starlink's download speeds range between 20Mbps and 100Mbps on its Standard (Fixed) plan, with a latency of 25ms–60ms and upload speeds of 5Mbps–10Mbps.
Starlink's download speeds range between 20Mbps and 100Mbps on its Standard (Fixed) plan, with a latency of 25ms–50ms and upload speeds of 5Mbps–15Mbps.
Guidelines for Mobile Mobility download and upload speeds are 5-50Mbps and 2-10Mbps respectively.
According to Ookla's Q3 and Q4 report for 2022, Starlink users in Australia experienced median download speeds of 106.43Mbps. This has slightly improved from Q2 median download speeds of 102.76Mbps.
Upload speeds and latency were clocked at 10.45Mbps and 49ms respectively.
Is Starlink cheaper than the NBN?
If we're looking at starting prices, satellite NBN comes out cheaper than Starlink.
Prices for satellite NBN start at $34.95 per month for a data-capped plan. Starlink costs $139 per month for unlimited data. It’s the only residential plan available.
Prices for satellite NBN can start from $34.95 per month for a data-capped plan. Starlink has multiple unlimited-data residential plans, with prices starting from $75 per month.
On the opposite side, Starlink hardware costs $599 but you also have the option to rent it for $19 a month.
We’ve stacked up Starlink again NBN satellite’s cheapest unlimited data plan for a more apples-to-apples comparison.
| Starlink | NBN satellite | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan price | $139 a month | Starts from $55 a month |
| Set-up costs | Hardware costs $599 or you can rent it for $19 per month | Modem costs up to $200 depending on the provider |
| Data | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Max speed | 200Mbps | 100Mbps |
Sky Muster NBN caps out at 25Mbps and typically comes with a set monthly data allowance (for data-capped plans), making things a bit more complicated for users. Meanwhile, Starlink offers up to 200Mbps and unlimited data on its NBN plan. That's a massive win for Starlink and why paying more for its services could be enticing.
So while the NBN is the cheaper option of the 2, it's not totally fair to compare them side by side because their inclusions differ so wildly.
- The bottom line: Depending on which NBN technology is available at your house, Starlink could be a better bet in terms of reliable speed. However, this speed comes at a steeper cost than signing up for an NBN plan.
Is Starlink faster than the NBN?
This depends on which NBN technology you're looking at. Overall, Starlink compares well to NBN on speed, just not as well on price.
Starlink vs fixed-line NBN speeds
For some NBN customers, especially those on lower quality FTTN connections, Starlink's claim of up to 200Mbps offers much faster speeds than their NBN providers can offer.
In fact, it's faster than the maximum speed of a fixed-line NBN 100 plan.
Keep in mind that faster NBN plans do exist (NBN 250 and NBN 1000) but are currently limited to FTTP and some HFC connection types and are not widely available just yet. If you're lucky enough to have access to them, your average speeds will be faster than Starlink.
However, your latency – the time taken for signals to reach a server – will mostly be higher on Starlink compared to a fixed-line connection since the satellites are further away. High latency can be a problem for video conferencing and especially online gaming.
Starlink vs wireless NBN speed
Starlink always did better than NBN Sky Muster satellite on speeds until NBN launched a new roster of uncapped plans.
Now you can get better than the usual speed limits of 25Mbps.
It follows a similar plan structure to NBN fixed-line plans with its own version of NBN 25, NBN 50 and NBN 100 plans available.
The main caveat is typical evening speeds (what you get during peak hours) aren’t as fast and download speeds can be a bit unstable depending on factors such as network congestion and weather conditions.
Starlink is a superior choice here, offering faster, more reliable speeds than NBN satellite, complete with unlimited data.
Is Starlink faster than 5G?
Based on numbers, 5G technology is definitely faster than Starlink. In Australia, Starlink has been measured at 230.4Mbps on average across all hours and 199.1Mbps in busy hours, while Telstra's Premium 5G Home Internet lists a typical busy-period download speed range of 62–632Mbps.
Both Starlink and 5G home internet seem like good alternatives to those struggling with slow fixed-line NBN connections. However, it's tricky to compare the 2 technology types as they solve different issues.
For example, Starlink is well-suited to those living in regional or rural areas where options for a good internet connection are limited. 5G home internet offers faster speeds to densely populated areas.
The best option for you will largely depend on your location and how strong 5G coverage is in your area.
Is Starlink worth it in Australia?
While NBN Co is upgrading homes across Australia to fibre connections and raising potential speeds, Starlink is a better bet for speed at the moment, especially if you live outside
metropolitan areas.
However, if you have a stricter budget, an uncapped NBN satellite plan is also a good option.
Pros
- Faster download speeds compared to the NBN
- Service will continue to improve as more satellites are launched
- Unlimited data
Cons
- Expensive set-up fees, unless you rent the hardware
- Limited local support
Frequently asked questions
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will I be charged the monthly fee even if I haven’ t set up skylink yet. although I have the set up
Hi Julie,
According to the FAQs on Starlink’s site: “Your billing begins 14 days from the day your Starlink Kit ships, and is not dependent on install or usage. You can return Starlink within 30 days of receipt for a refund on hardware (shipping not included). This allows time to test your Starlink and set up location to make sure Starlink is a good fit for you.”
If you have any other billing questions, you can check Starlink’s site here: https://support.starlink.com/topic?category=1&category=31
Hope this helps.
Just a thought here, you compared the 25Mbps plan to starlink, but you should probably compare the 100Mbps plans to starlink or the 250Mbps. If you do that you will see the price is more comparable. I get that you can’t get any lower plan and thus its considered cheaper to buy a land based 25Mbps but for many people 25Mbps isn’t enough anyway.
If you get a Telstra plan one of the more expensive ones for example after the first twelve months it’s going to cost you $110 per month for the plan and for the 250Mbps plan you pay $140 per month in the end which is the same as starlink. When you look at the actual download speeds from telstra you are not really seeing 250Mbps all the time, and when you compare the two side by side they average out similar. I used starlink for about 8 months and I found that the speed was quite often closer to 300Mbps rather than 200 in Sydney. Rate has dropped since then but not to the point its below 200 all the time. Whereas I often get less than 200 on telstra. Around latency 30ms to 50ms latency is still good enough for online gaming, its not great but good enough.
Hi Isaac, thanks for the suggestion, we appreciate it! For the example we used, we wanted to compare apples to apples so we looked into Satellite NBN vs Starlink as this will be most relevant to those using satellite internet which currently gives you a around 25Mbps speeds.
I travel remotely in a caravan, will I be able to run my TV from almost anywhere in the Australian outback and do I have a monthly fee when I am at home and not using Starlink ?
Hi Peter. You can sign up to a Starlink for RVs plan. This gives you the ability to pause and un-pause service at any time and is billed in one-month increments.