Starlink speed limit nerfing

SebIp said:
It’ll download automatically but update requires so far me to actually say yes do it now. Otherwise it’s powered off and in a bag most of the time.
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Leave it on overnight and get back to me. ;-)
 
Jim Burns said:
See the attached file for pricing comparisons. To push this above regular support tickets:
The person who owns this decision is almost certainly Lauren Dreyer. She's VP of Starlink Business Operations at SpaceX, overseeing global expansion including enterprise customer relationships, strategic connectivity projects, and crisis response. Baylor She's been at SpaceX since 2006. She was the one Elon Musk quoted on X when posting the Ukraine whitelist registration instructions. Her scope explicitly includes the kind of plan restructuring you're dealing with.

Here are your realistic channels to reach decision-makers, ranked by likelihood of actually landing:

1. Lauren Dreyer directly on X (Twitter): @LaurenDreyerShe's active there and publicly engaged on Starlink policy issues. A concise, well-framed post tagging her — especially from a group of TBM/turboprop owners presenting the "we accept identity verification, price it fairly" argument — has a real chance of being seen. She has 13.9K followers and engages with Starlink-related posts. This is probably your single best shot at reaching someone with actual authority.

2. Elon Musk on X: @elonmuskHe personally responded to the Ukraine speed limit situation and has demonstrated willingness to engage on Starlink policy when publicly tagged. A coordinated post from TBM owners with the security/whitelist framing — not just a price complaint — could get traction, especially if AOPA amplifies it.

3. Gwynne Shotwell, President & COOShotwell led negotiations on Starlink's Ukraine deployment and has publicly addressed the drone weaponization issue. Wikipedia She's harder to reach directly, but she's the operational decision-maker at SpaceX. A formal letter from an organized group of turboprop/jet owners sent to SpaceX headquarters would route through her office: SpaceX, 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250.

4. SpaceX corporate emailSpaceX's general format is [email protected]. Several public directories reference Lauren Dreyer's email in that format. A professional letter with the pricing analysis, the whitelist proposal, and signatures from identified TBM/turboprop owners sent directly to her would bypass the consumer support black hole entirely.

5. AOPA as your amplifierAOPA has already published and Jim Coon has made a public statement, but they need to hear specifically from turboprop and jet owners — not just Cessna and Piper pilots. Call AOPA's Pilot Information Center (800-872-2672) and ask to be connected to government affairs. Tell them you want your specific concerns — TBM owner, willing to verify identity, need a mid-tier GA plan — included in any formal communication they send to SpaceX. If AOPA sends a follow-up letter to Dreyer or Shotwell on behalf of its membership, having turbine owners in that letter strengthens the case enormously.

The pitch to make — regardless of channel — is not "lower your prices." It's: "We understand the security imperative behind identity verification. We're willing to provide passport, tail number, and any registration you need. Build a verified GA tier at a price that reflects the actual cost of service, not the cost of a bizjet operation. The 4,000+ petition signers are your pre-built whitelist."

That framing gives SpaceX something they actually want — a security solution — instead of just asking them to give back revenue.
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Did you copy this from TBMOPA or something??? I don't think a bunch of rich guys flying around 5 million dollar turboprops and complaining about $250/month are going to garner much sympathy.

Wasn't there still a 250mph speed limit before this?
 
172andyou said:
The point is that they could set a speed limit of 200 or 250mph, still generate the revenue from the cheap, piston single, pilots and charge more to the high rollers in their faster planes.
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I think most on this thread are missing the real reasons behind this change. I suspect perhaps rates will go back down when the war in the Middle East ends. A starlink mini in a drone turns it into a formidable weapon. Super easy to link it up to both a cheap optical and IR camera system onboard the drone and allow real time target selection from anywhere in the world even with GPS jammed. Hard to beat for a total cost of well under 1000.00 dollars.
 
I see a lot of hate aimed at Elon about this. A lot of reaction here and other places has been as if it was Elon himself giving the middle finger directly to small piston GA operators (i.e. - the little guys). I don't see it that way, at least not yet. This feels more like a corporate decision aimed at the "aviation market" which is seen by marketing/branding execs as Citations and Gulfstreams with million dollar annual operations budgets. I really think this is more a matter of ignoring our small segment of the market rather than targeting it.

I think someone should get in Elon's ear about this. There should be a tier for sub-200kt GA planes - or whatever threshold clearly separates corporate-class from smaller airframes. These small/slower planes are not likely to have onboard radar and could benefit tremendously from internet for weather and other up-to-date flight information. These are the planes that are not likely to go for the $250/month anyway, so it may actually be a net increase in revenue to create such a tier. But I think it should be sold on the basis of safety. I think that is something that Elon might get behind. But in the grand scheme of things, this may not ever get on his radar screen.
 
Jeff767 said:
I think most on this thread are missing the real reasons behind this change. I suspect perhaps rates will go back down when the war in the Middle East ends. A starlink mini in a drone turns it into a formidable weapon. Super easy to link it up to both a cheap optical and IR camera system onboard the drone and allow real time target selection from anywhere in the world even with GPS jammed. Hard to beat for a total cost of well under 1000.00 dollars.
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100. Mph drone still can do stuff.

They also have always done regional lock out. And for the new aviation plan they want info for registration. Could have done that and price something people can pay.

Honestly why do people keep attributing altruistic aspects to Elon’s companies?
 
Jeff767 said:
I think most on this thread are missing the real reasons behind this change. I suspect perhaps rates will go back down when the war in the Middle East ends. A starlink mini in a drone turns it into a formidable weapon. Super easy to link it up to both a cheap optical and IR camera system onboard the drone and allow real time target selection from anywhere in the world even with GPS jammed. Hard to beat for a total cost of well under 1000.00 dollars.
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We touched on that previously. That theory has a couple holes. First, Starlink could easily block fast dishes in that region without having to do it globally. Second, this change doesn't actually stop anything, it just requires a more expensive plan.
 
172andyou said:
We touched on that previously. That theory has a couple holes. First, Starlink could easily block fast dishes in that region without having to do it globally. Second, this change doesn't actually stop anything, it just requires a more expensive plan.
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They could. They could do a lot of things. But they had aviation plans that are designed for use in flight (a distinct market segment), and some aviation users were not subscribing to those plans. Apparently, light GA was using plans designed for terrestrial users because there was a speed loophole. So they created a plan specifically for those users. At least that's what it looks like to me.
 
Lindberg said:
They could. They could do a lot of things. But they had aviation plans that are designed for use in flight (a distinct market segment), and some aviation users were not subscribing to those plans. Apparently, light GA was using plans designed for terrestrial users because there was a speed loophole. So they created a plan specifically for those users. At least that's what it looks like to me.
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Yeah, that's understood. I was replying to a comment speculating that the motivation was about eliminating weaponization of starlink. I'm convinced that theory doesn't make any sense.
 
172andyou said:
Yeah, that's understood. I was replying to a comment speculating that the motivation was about eliminating weaponization of starlink. I'm convinced that theory doesn't make any sense.
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I do think there's a tie in and that's why the aviation plans require id verification.
 
Interesting....CAP has been evaluating this for a few months. I'm sure with the new pricing, it's going to go away. Real fast.
 
172andyou said:
We touched on that previously. That theory has a couple holes. First, Starlink could easily block fast dishes in that region without having to do it globally. Second, this change doesn't actually stop anything, it just requires a more expensive plan.
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It’s not the fast dishes they are concerned about. It’s the 120 knot drones. Blocking a roam account in a specific part of the world and not blocking all the legitimate users in that part of the world might be a lot harder than you think including uses by US forces.
 
Again if all you need is a new registration to verify someone you could do it without all the cost increases.

Btw Japan been no in motion use for ages.

This ain’t some feel good make the world better thing.
 
The strange thing about this is they have a huge gap in their service offering between 100 mph and 300 mph. My guess is they're cleaning out the space in order to offer a plan in the middle for GA piston use. They didn't have a clue how many of the users were on the low or high end, and now they will. I'm keeping an eye out, though, but unless they're willing to lock in a 12 month contract where they can't arbitrarily change the rules/prices, I'm not interested in signing up.
 
I was thinking is this due to all the airline business now? Is there a limit to how many in motion at higher speed they can sustain?

Although more likely still to me is the foot in mouth or in this case foot in customer's mouth idiocy causing these troubles.
 
c.org

Sign the Petition

Request reinstatement of Starlink roaming plans for pilots
c.org c.org

No idea if that petition is of any benefit but if people want in flight internet at a reasonable price can consider signing.
 
SebIp said:
c.org

Sign the Petition

Request reinstatement of Starlink roaming plans for pilots
c.org c.org

No idea if that petition is of any benefit but if people want in flight internet at a reasonable price can consider signing.
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I don't think any of those online petitions have ever made a difference in their 20+ year history. You'd think the news would report if one was finally successful.
 
Went to check when Amazon LEO is coming. They have a smaller dish which is interesting! I'd like something more portable.
 
Jeff767 said:
It’s not the fast dishes they are concerned about. It’s the 120 knot drones. Blocking a roam account in a specific part of the world and not blocking all the legitimate users in that part of the world might be a lot harder than you think including uses by US forces.
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Their current model doesn't block 120mph drones. It just charges them $200 more for the one mission they fly.

SebIp said:
I was thinking is this due to all the airline business now? Is there a limit to how many in motion at higher speed they can sustain?
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No. The satellites are going 17000mph. The dish adding or subtracting 200 from that is irrelevant.
 
172andyou said:
Their current model doesn't block 120mph drones. It just charges them $200 more for the one mission they fly.


No. The satellites are going 17000mph. The dish adding or subtracting 200 from that is irrelevant.
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I was thinking in creased handovers and additional congestion. I understand they have one some area a 1000 dollar activation fee due to congestion.

Still all known info suggests it’s a random decision.
 
Lindberg said:
It blocks them by requiring id verification for aviation plans.
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I guess it helps some. Maybe? I feel like a literal army could come up with a bunch of IDs to register a bunch of dishes though.

SebIp said:
I was thinking in creased handovers and additional congestion. I understand they have one some area a 1000 dollar activation fee due to congestion.
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Handovers would be essentially unchanged. They are already changing satellite every few minutes as one goes over the horizon and a new one is better positioned.

According to random internet research: Dishy changes satellite every four minutes on average (with wide error bars). A plane flying at 200mph is 85 times slower than the satellite. So that average switching time would be changed by a little less than three seconds. Three seconds is way less than the normal variance in switching times. Conclusion: There is no way this could be a factor.

SebIp said:
Still all known info suggests it’s a random decision.
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Yes. It's not a tech decision for sure. And I'm unpersuaded by the drone theory since it's trivial to work around. Occam's razor suggests they just misread the piston single market. (Or there is another xenforo out there for a large community of rich people that are going over a hundred miles an hour and really, really need internet. Maybe pokemon of the rich and famous? :p )
 
It does, just confirmed today, locks pretty much at 100mph or 87 knots ground speed. I put it on standby. Give it a couple months and maybe sell the dish.
 
Jeff767 said:
I think most on this thread are missing the real reasons behind this change. I suspect perhaps rates will go back down when the war in the Middle East ends. A starlink mini in a drone turns it into a formidable weapon. Super easy to link it up to both a cheap optical and IR camera system onboard the drone and allow real time target selection from anywhere in the world even with GPS jammed. Hard to beat for a total cost of well under 1000.00 dollars.
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This is a dumb excuse for a reason to jack up rates in the US. Starlink satellites are in a low orbit that has about a ~2-3k mile radius view of the ground. The satellites that have a view of Ukraine or Iran do not have a view of the US and vice-versa.

It *might* make sense to jack up rates and/or require user ID/tracking in Europe or north Africa to restrict access to "undesirables" in the region. However, Starlink knows the speed and position of their clients and so can deny service via geofencing (or speed limit) quite accurately if that's their intent. If bad actors are filling out Starlink applications, what's stopping them from spoofing legit registry numbers? That's hardly going to slow them down.

Using conflict in Ukraine or Iran to justify cost increases (or user details) in the US is just a money grab. There is no technical basis for it.
 
Jim_R said:
If bad actors are filling out Starlink applications, what's stopping them from spoofing legit registry numbers?
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If starlink sees the same ID in use in multiple places, that would be super easy to shut down within a few seconds.

Jim_R said:
Using conflict in Ukraine or Iran to justify cost increases (or user details) in the US is just a money grab. There is no technical basis for it.
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I agree with your conclusion, but I haven't seen the company using that justification. I thought it was just an internet rumor. They actually said that?
 
SebIp said:
Went to check when Amazon LEO is coming. They have a smaller dish which is interesting! I'd like something more portable.
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I wouldn't count on Amazon LEO, last I heard they were way behind meeting the goals in their temporary license. They are required to have a certain number of satellites in orbit at a specific time to keep the license for the frequency, apparently they're way behind, so far behind that they've had to purchase slots on SpaceX rockets to launch Leo satellites. If memory serves the deadline is mid summer of 26, if they fail to meet the requirements they could lose the license.

I just looked it up, they only have about 180 in orbit now, are required to have over 1600 by the end of July, no way they make it. They have requested an extension on the timeline from the FCC. They have had to contract with SpaceX, their direct competitor, for launch slots.
 
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GBSoren said:
I wouldn't count on Amazon LEO, last I heard they were way behind meeting the goals in their temporary license. They are required to have a certain number of satellites in orbit at a specific time to keep the license for the frequency, apparently they're way behind, so far behind that they've had to purchase slots on SpaceX rockets to launch Leo satellites. If memory serves the deadline is mid summer of 26, if they fail to meet the requirements they could lose the license.

I just looked it up, they only have about 180 in orbit now, are required to have over 1600 by the end of July, no way they make it. They have requested an extension on the timeline from the FCC. They have had to contract with SpaceX, their direct competitor, for launch slots.
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A company in active development, with 180 satellites in orbit, and credible plans to launch the remainder, will be a rubber stamp extension.
 
GBSoren said:
I wouldn't count on Amazon LEO, last I heard they were way behind meeting the goals in their temporary license. They are required to have a certain number of satellites in orbit at a specific time to keep the license for the frequency, apparently they're way behind, so far behind that they've had to purchase slots on SpaceX rockets to launch Leo satellites. If memory serves the deadline is mid summer of 26, if they fail to meet the requirements they could lose the license.

I just looked it up, they only have about 180 in orbit now, are required to have over 1600 by the end of July, no way they make it. They have requested an extension on the timeline from the FCC. They have had to contract with SpaceX, their direct competitor, for launch slots.
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It’s also why I am seriously just considering Sirius to bridge the no fis-b in canada gap. Would people say they are more reliable over the long term?
 
172andyou said:
A company in active development, with 180 satellites in orbit, and credible plans to launch the remainder, will be a rubber stamp extension.
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You'd sure think so, but what's the plan? I believe the Blue Origin rockets are still grounded. SpaceX currently is providing 80-90% of the payload launches worldwide. Do they have the capacity to also launch another 3000+ Leo satelites (do they even want to)? 1600 is only half of the total in Amazon's plan to meet the FCC deadline. Time will tell, but Elon doesn't have competition anytime soon IMO.
 
172andyou said:
If starlink sees the same ID in use in multiple places, that would be super easy to shut down within a few seconds.
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Sure. But that's also a poor way to deny drone access, since it's dependent on the spoofed plane being a Starlink customer and actually using the service at the same time as the drone, so it seems like a pretty limited strategy.

It's easier to imagine Starlink's real motivation as being able to use the registration tied to the account compared against ADSB tracking data to ensure that you're not just loaning your antenna to your buddy and "cheating" Starlink out of selling a separate antenna+plan to him.

172andyou said:
I agree with your conclusion, but I haven't seen the company using that justification. I thought it was just an internet rumor. They actually said that?
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Earlier in this thread someone referred to Gwynne Shotwell talking about denying drone access, and I thought that was something she said recently in regard to this pricing change, but it turns out it was just something she said in general back in 2023. So I still have not heard that this has come authoritatively from SpaceX/Starlink. Maybe it just speculation from SGOTI that keeps getting repeated. If so, then I wish it would stop, 'cause it's dumb.
 
Jim_R said:
Sure. But that's also a poor way to deny drone access, since it's dependent on the spoofed plane being a Starlink customer and actually using the service at the same time as the drone, so it seems like a pretty limited strategy.

It's easier to imagine Starlink's real motivation as being able to use the registration tied to the account compared against ADSB tracking data to ensure that you're not just loaning your antenna to your buddy and "cheating" Starlink out of selling a separate antenna+plan to him.


Earlier in this thread someone referred to Gwynne Shotwell talking about denying drone access, and I thought that was something she said recently in regard to this pricing change, but it turns out it was just something she said in general back in 2023. So I still have not heard that this has come authoritatively from SpaceX/Starlink. Maybe it just speculation from SGOTI that keeps getting repeated. If so, then I wish it would stop, 'cause it's dumb.
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It is a dumb idea when the west spends 4 million a shot with Patriot systems. 250 dollars is nothing to get us to waste 4 mil. And if they are cheap something we need to shot down running of a ****ty roam plan will do to waste a few million for whatever air defence we need to use with exception of gun based platforms.
 
Jim_R said:
It's easier to imagine Starlink's real motivation as being able to use the registration tied to the account compared against ADSB tracking data to ensure that you're not just loaning your antenna to your buddy and "cheating" Starlink out of selling a separate antenna+plan to him.
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I hope that's not what they're up to. I fly like 50 different N numbers a year, and my starlink dish is aboard for all of those flights.
 
schmookeeg said:
I hope that's not what they're up to. I fly like 50 different N numbers a year, and my starlink dish is aboard for all of those flights.
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You are paying for the 250 dollar a month plan then?
 
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