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History of Starlink

Starlink is constantly evolving with both hardware and plans. They have made it pretty clear that the plan you have today may not exist tomorrow and the features your plan has now may change. As old plans, features and hardware get replaced, we are keeping them documented here in this article.

You can use our Starlink Guide to find information on the current plans. Likewise, for current information on Starlink hardware see our dedicated SpaceX Starlink Hardware review.

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Below is more in-depth content on this subject, created exclusively for our members.

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Starlink Plans History

Once Starlink began accepting $99 deposit pre-orders in February 2021, demand for Starlink service in the US outpaced supply. It took two years before they started to catch up.

Some people who placed pre-orders that very first day were still waiting for notifications that they could actually place a Starlink order well into 2023 - while other people were finding it easy to get a Starlink system ordered with near immediate shipping.

This frustration was because it takes time to launch such a massive satellite constellation and the network only had capacity for a limited number of connected customers per cell. So customers with deposits were basically just holding their place in line based on their service address - and one address might be stuck waiting for years, while 15 miles away service might be available that week.

One unique aspect to the nomadic lifestyle is that most RVers and boaters generally don't have a fixed address that they specifically need permanent Starlink service at - so technically anywhere in the US can be used as a service address. This gave nomads a definite advantage to purchase service anywhere it was available.

Once mobile plans were introduced allowing global coverage, Starlink became a pretty common name around RVers and boaters.

Starlink Plans Timeline

Starlink first started becoming available with an email invite around January 2021 with Starlink offering Residential service at certain US addresses at fixed locations only. About a month later in February, Starlink opened pre-orders to anyone with a $99 deposit.

By April 2021, it was discovered Starlink quietly added the ability to move your service address finally making it somewhat nomad friendly, and some nomads became early adopters: learning how to navigate by trial and error to find open service locations you could actually use your Starlink.

Over the next year, Starlink kept expanding and by March 2022, Starlink finally had service covering the lower 48 states and had enabled portability (roaming) for all residential dishes which meant they could be used anywhere in their country and it didn't matter where your service address was. Not surprisingly, Starlink started charging $25 for portability in early May 2022.

In late May 2022, Starlink officially released the Starlink For RVs line of service (rebranded to Starlink Roam in March 2023, and rebranded again to Starlink Mobile in May 2023) that allowed immediate order without any assigned service address and always being subject to deprioritized service. The Starlink Mobile service was also unique in that you could pause the service when you were not using it, which was the first service plan to allow this option.

In February 2023, Starlink changed some terms of service and changed its rates, including discontinuing Portability for new Residential US customers and existing customers who did not have it active at the time of the changes.  For now, those lucky customers can keep it until they turn it off. See our Big Starlink Changes for our story on this.

Then in March 2023, Starlink rebranded Starlink For RVs to Starlink Roam and added a 2nd tier of service, creating Starlink Roam Regional for $150/month and Starlink Roam Global for $200/month.

The next month, Starlink removed portability as a feature all together for all new customers, but they sent an email notifying active users they were grandfathered in until they changed their plan and then it was gone forever.

Also, in April 2023, Starlink created the ability for users to switch between various Starlink plans: Starlink Residential, Starlink Roam (Regional / Global), and Starlink Maritime / Mobility 50GB (with the appropriate dish).

• Roaming customers can stay connected anywhere on land in their continent or worldwide depending on their plan.
• Maritime / Mobility customers can stay connected anywhere on the open ocean and land and also have certain limits depending on their location.
• Residential customers have connection at their service address, but are also allowed to move their service address to have priority service in other locations when available. If no service is available, they may switch to a Mobile Service instead.
• Customers can switch between the various plans as needed, with some restrictions.

In May 2023, Starlink renamed all their plans and made significant changes to those plans and priority levels (see Starlink Revamps Its Plans & Service Priority Levels - Big Impacts For Mobile Users). Here are the new names and what they previously were.

• Standard - Replaced Starlink Residential.
• Priority - Replaced Starlink Business.
• Mobile - Replaced Starlink Roam, which recently replaced Starlink RV. Supports "Portability" but not full time in-motion usage.
• Mobile Priority - Replaced in-motion usage of Starlink Roam, and replaced Starlink Maritime for open ocean use.

While Starlink renamed the plans behind the scenes, when you choose to order Starlink, you are still presented with the names of the use case that best fits your need: Residential, Business, Roam, Mobility, Maritime, Aviation, & IOT. Each option takes you to the appropriate plan that is supported for that use case.

The fixed location plans under Standard & Priority are billed monthly without the ability to pause while the mobile plans can pause billing (but only in full month increments) when they are not needed.

History of Portability Service

Starlink Portability was a roaming feature that was first noticed around March 2022: select users could travel from their home address and still have service. Starlink Portability was officially introduced as a paid feature in May of 2022 with an additional fee of $25/month.

Before Starlink RV became an option, portability allowed users on the residential plan to use their Starlink in locations other than their home address and also allowed them to hold their spot at home while they travelled, but at a lower priority.

Unfortunately Portability was suddenly discontinued around Feb 2023 with no warning and unfortunately users that weren't currently subscribed to it at that time lost the ability to add it.

Later Starlink confirmed via email to users that were lucky enough to have portability enabled at the time it was discontinued were grandfathered in to keep it until they changed their plan.

In November 2023, it was discovered that users with portability now had the ability to pause their plan even though originally it wasn't considered a mobile plan. This is great news for those that want to hang on to their portability but may not need it all the time.

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Hardware Evolution

The original Dishy was a round dish that was sold for about a year before being replaced by the 2nd generation rectangular dish, called the Standard Actuated.

The Standard Actuated was smaller and lighter than the first generation dish, but still had a stalk and motors for initial aiming.

Also new - the cord between the indoor router (which is now integrated into the power supply) and outdoor Dishy is now removable and replaceable, as opposed to the fixed cord that was permanently attached to the original Dishy design.

The rectangular Dishy is more power efficient too - and is a better match for use in off-grid solar-power installations. According to SpaceX the round and rectangular dishes should have essentially identical performance.

For anyone shopping for a used Starlink - the smaller size and removable cord of the rectangular Dishy make it a lot easier to use in a portable fashion where you set up at each new location. The older round Dishy receivers (especially the very early ones with black legs) will be more limited in this regard.

The one downside to note of the standard Starlink dishes is that the router that pairs with the rectangular Dishy doesn't offer built-in Ethernet, which means those wanting to integrate with another router or other wired devices will have to purchase an additional ($25) Ethernet Adapter.

The high performance (HP) dishes, both the pole version and the flat version with no motors, are similar to the original round dish in that they have a separate power brick for the dish that allows you to actually bypass the router with more typical ethernet cables, and not needing the priority ethernet adapter like the standard dish.

In June 2025 the Performance (Gen 3) dish was released and Starlink renamed the prior performance models:

• Actuated High Performance is now Starlink Performance Kit (Gen 1)
• Flat High Performance is now Starlink Performance Kit (Gen 2)

For the most current information on Starlink hardware (and with more detail), see our Starlink Gear review.

Starlink Hardware Versions

Starlink has various types of dishes depending on the Starlink service you subscribe to. The original rectangle dish has become the standard dish available for Starlink Standard & Starlink Mobile at the base $599 price.

Starlink originally had two versions of the High Performance Dish, one with a pole and motors and a flat one with no motors, but they discontinued the model with motors.  The Flat HP at the time was the only dish approved for in-motion use a $2500 purchase price and is the default option on select plans.

SpaceX Starlink receiver options:

Current options:

See our Starlink Gear Center for current models and our Starlink Guide for the latest information on Starlink.

Discontinued models

• Standard Actuated - $599, stalk mounted. Not (officially) useable in motion.
• Circular Round Dish - $499-$599, Circular in shape, stalk mounted with two versions (black & grey feet). (Discontinued in 2022)
• Articulated High Performance (Performance Gen 1) - $2,500, stalk mounted. Not (officially) useable in motion. (Discontinued in 2023)
• Flat High Performance (Performance Gen 2) - $2,500, flat mounted. (Discontinued in 2025)

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Related Resources

Here are some related resources to explore:

• Gear Center: SpaceX Starlink
• Guide: Satellite Starlink Internet for Mobile RV and Boat Use