With the growth in the number of Starlink subscribers, some of them are using a lot of data every month. As a result, SpaceX has introduced a data cap limit to the satellite internet service this week.
Residential and business users will now be soft-capped at 1TB monthly, even though business users pay a significantly higher monthly fee for the service at $635CAD or $500 USD compared to $140 CAD or $110 USD.
SpaceX Starlink expands into Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
One of the features that attracted users to Starlink was the unlimited data. However, for both residential and business users, SpaceX has introduced a cap. The connection will be throttled once users exceed 1TB in a month.
As confirmed by several Reddit users, Starlink users in Canada and the US received an email on Friday detailing the fair usage policy.
Within the 1TB allotment, users will be on “Priority Access.” However, after reaching their 1TB limit, they will be dropped to “Basic Access” for the rest of the month. The cycle resets at the end of the month.
Basic Access will reduce the connection speed. However, SpaceX clarified that data consumed during off-peak hours (between 11 pm and 7 am) would not count toward the 1TB limit.
Users can monitor their data usage via a new portal on their account pages.
SpaceX is offering Starlink discounts in Australia and Europe. The company plans to reduce the number of its second-generation satellites significantly.
Here is a full copy of the email. (via u/NearnorthOnline)
