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.
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.
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.
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:
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 which is cheaper than Starlink's plan fees of $139 a month. However, Telstra will cap download speeds at 50Mbps whereas Starlink users can experience download speeds of 20-100Mbps on a standard residential plan.
Read our full overview of Telstra's satellite internet plan to see if it's right for you.
Starlink offers a couple of other plans that are better suited to businesses or high-demand users.
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.
You also get a public IP, network priority and priority support.
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:
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.
Its Priority (Fixed) and Mobile Priority plan can attain download speeds of 40-220Mbps and upload speeds of 8-25Mbps.
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.
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.
Equipment for the NBN is provided for free by NBN Co. All you have to do is pay for a modem when you sign up for a plan. Depending on the provider, this can cost you anywhere from $60 to $200.
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 frequently comes with data caps that vary between peak and off-peak hours, 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.
This depends on which NBN technology you're looking at. Overall, Starlink compares well to NBN on speed, just not as well on price.
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 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.
Based on numbers, 5G technology is definitely faster than Starlink. You can get around 300Mbps median speeds in Australia, but Telstra does its customers one better by offering up to 600Mbps at peak times.
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.
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.
Aussies throw away $456 on average by not switching internet plans.
Keep your costs low when signing up to a new NBN plan.
Get lightning-fast speeds on a 5G home internet plan.
Home wireless broadband can be a good alternative to the NBN for some households, offering fast setup, similar speeds, and unlimited data.
Accord with Officeworks is the Australian retailer's attempt to shake up the broadband market with simple and speedy NBN plans.
See the top 10 internet providers on Finder over the last month.
You don't have to cheap out to save money on your broadband.
Unlimited internet plans are everywhere and fit every budget, so you’d have to go out of your way to find anything else.
Our team of experts has narrowed down the best internet deals this month to help you find the right one.
With 20 years of experience in the Australian market, iPrimus offers customers a compelling, quality broadband service.
how much to set up and get the job done
Hi Graham, the hardware for Starlink costs $924 and the monthly fees is $139. However, Starlink is running an offer where you could get the hardware for much cheaper. Please visit its website to find out costs for your address: https://www.starlink.com/
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.