Got the email from Starlink this morning. Again.
From June 18, Standby Mode goes to $15 a month. That's up from $8.50. Nearly doubling. And this is not the first time they've done this.
Here's how it's actually gone:
- Free — You used to be able to just pause your service. No charge.
- $5 USD / $8.50 AUD (August 2025) — Free pause gone. They introduced Standby Mode and called it a feature.
- March 2026 — Removed in-motion use. Dish detects movement, connection drops. Want to use it while driving? That'll be a Roam plan at $80/month.
- April 2026 — Removed protection from reactivation surcharges. In high demand areas you can now get hit with up to $1,500 when you switch back to a full plan — even after sitting on Standby the whole time.
- June 18, 2026 — $15/month Standby Mode.
Each time they change something, the price goes up and the product gets worse. But the press release always talks about "network investment" and "strong demand."
This Hits Seasonal Users Hard
I use Starlink maybe two or three months a year. Remote travel, areas with zero mobile coverage — that's where it earns its keep. The rest of the time it sits in the vehicle doing nothing.
At $8.50 a month standby that's roughly $76 a year just to keep the account alive. Not great, but acceptable.
At $15 a month that's $135 a year — just in standby fees — before I pay a single dollar for actual use. That's a different conversation.
And there are a lot of Australians in exactly this situation. Grey nomads, 4WDers, station people, anyone who needs connectivity for a few months of the year and doesn't need it the rest of the time. Standby Mode was specifically sold as the solution for these users. At $15 a month it's starting to not make sense.
The alternative — cancel and reactivate each season — now carries its own risk thanks to those reactivation surcharges they quietly introduced in April. In high demand areas, coming back from a cancelled plan could cost you up to $1,500. So you're stuck either way: keep paying the standby fee, or risk a large hit when you want to come back.
What I'm Doing
Still working that out, to be honest. The dish is paid for, it works well where I need it, and walking away from that hardware investment isn't straightforward. But I'm not happy about paying $135 a year for a service to sit idle.
If you're in the same situation, it's worth doing the maths on your actual usage pattern before you make a call. Just make sure you factor in the reactivation surcharge risk if you decide to cancel. Depending on your region and demand level, coming back could cost you significantly more than the standby fees you saved.
The one thing I'm certain of: Starlink will change the terms again. They always do.
Have you received the email? What are you doing — keeping the standby, cancelling, or switching to something else? Let me know in the comments.
