Starlink has been offering satellite internet service since late 2020. In that time, they’ve introduced several types of new service plans. Originally, it was just Residential. But now, in addition to Residential, Starlink offers Business, Roam (formerly RV), and Maritime.
Sometimes our circumstances change. Maybe you originally ordered Roam for traveling, and now you want to use it at home. Luckily, Starlink makes it very easy to convert from one plan to another. You can change from Roam to Residential, Residential to Maritime, and so on.
In this guide, I am going to walk you through the steps to change your Starlink service plan. I’ll show you the process, explain some of the limitations, and answer commonly asked questions.
Table of Contents
Video Tutorial
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Step 1: Log in to your account dashboard
To convert your Starlink service from one plan to another, visit the Starlink website. Open the menu and select Sign In. Enter your Starlink account credentials. If successful, you will be redirected to the account dashboard.
If you are already signed in, open the menu and click My Account to proceed to the account dashboard.
Step 2: Click the Manage button on your Starlink
On your Starlink account dashboard, find the Manage button next to the service that you would like to convert. This allows you to manage account settings such as service address, service type, add-ons, etc.
Step 3: Click on Change Service Plan
Click Change Service Plan in the menu to access the options you have for converting from one plan to another. You can also hit the edit icon next to the service plan.
Step 4: Select a new service plan type
You have the option to change to various service plans: Regional Roam, Residential, Global Roam, and Maritime. To change your plan, click the Change To button of your desired plan.
The change will take effect based on which plan you are coming from:
If the plan you select costs more than your current plan (Residential to Regional Roam, for example), the change will take place immediately. The additional plan cost will be pro-rated based on how many days are left in your billing cycle.
If you are selecting a plan that costs less than your current plan (Roam to Residential, for example), the change will take effect at the start of your new billing cycle. You will be charged the new amount at that time. Your current service will continue until the new billing cycle begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
The process of changing plans is fairly simple, but I’ve compiled some common questions below. If you have further questions or concerns, please comment below or contact us.
Can I change from Roam to Residential in a waitlisted area?
No, Starlink will check your dish GPS location for Residential availability. If you attempt to convert to Residential in a location that is at capacity, you will get an error message. Converting to Residential from Roam only works in areas with open availability.
When converting Roam to Residential, what will my service address be?
Roam accounts don’t have a service address, so when you convert to Residential, one will need to be assigned. Starlink uses the GPS coordinates to assign a service address, which can always be updated later on in your account dashboard. I highly recommend having your Starlink dish powered on at your desired service address before initiating a service plan change to Residential.
Are all service plans available?
No, not all of Starlink’s plans are available in the Change Service Type menu. For example, if you have a Roam account, you can’t change to Business. Which plans are available depends on your current plan type, and your country.
Why isn’t the change from Roam to Residential immediate?
When changing from a higher cost plan to a lower cost one, the new plan will start on your next billing cycle. So if you currently have Roam (formerly RV) and want to convert to Residential, you’ll have to wait until your current billing cycle ends. Starlink will provide the date that your new plan will begin.
Can I ever switch back?
Yes, you can switch back to any of the plan options presented on the Change Service Plan screen. For example, if you want to change from Residential to Roam for a few months, and then back to Residential, just follow the same steps at that time.
How much will it cost to convert?
It depends on which plan you are moving to, and what plan you currently have. If you are going from a lower cost to a higher cost, you’ll pay a pro-rated amount for the new plan, based on how many days are left in your billing cycle.
If you are going from a higher cost to a lower cost, you won’t pay anything immediately. Instead, you’ll be charged the new monthly price when the new plan takes affect at the start of the new billing cycle.
Related: Starlink Prices
Can you sell and transfer after converting?
Starlink hardware is not locked to the service plan types. In other words, if you converted your plan to Roam and then sold the dish to someone, the buyer can activate it on any plan type they wish. Residential availability depends on the capacity at the buyers address.
For more detail on the process, check out our guide: How To Buy, Sell, And Transfer A Used Starlink
if i bought a residential starlink system i know i can switch it to roam however will it still let me pause service when i dont need it due to the fact that i bought it as a residential and switched it?
Yes, pausing is a feature of the Roam plan, so you’ll gain access to that feature once you switch. The equipment isn’t limited by service plan, any equipment can be used with any plan. In other words, Starlink doesn’t really know/care if it was a Residential dish before.
I’ve been waitlisted for Residential since the end of May. I decided not to wait, and purchased Roam in August. Today, I just received an email that my Starlink is now ready and I have 7 days to to confirm or cancel the order, so I assume that means Residential capacity is now available to me. What should I do? Cancel the order? Will I then be able to switch my existing plan from Roam to Residential? When I go to my portal now, it does not show the option to switch to Residential for my current Roam plan.
Quick update: I contacted Starlink Support with this question, and within 5 minutes I got a reply that, per my request, they’ve switched my plan to Standard. That was easy!
How did you contact Starlink Support? I would like to speak with them about the same question as you had.
You have to create a support ticket by going to the support section of the app or website, finding a related topic, and then pressing the thumbs down icon on the answer. More detail here if you need:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/how-to-contact-starlink-customer-support/
I am on a residential “special” plan that doesn’t let me convert to Roam. I live in Quebec canada and winter in Arizona. Last year I chose Portability option but I don’t that now nor do I see Roam as an option. I am wondering what my options are? I see there is residential service availbility in my winter location. My only choice from my app is to Cancel. Then I can use my existing equipment at the AZ location? My starlink was subsidized by the quebec govt so I got equipment free and reduced monthly cost so maybe I need just cancel as I cannot get in touch with support? thanks
You should be able to cancel, and then hit the Transfer button to move the equipment out of your current account. From there, you are free to open up another line of service for whatever you wish. On the order page, enter the KIT# from your current equipment to be able to use it on the new plan.
That’s what I was going to suggest. A lot of people finally got their Residential email this week, and I’ve been hearing that Starlink is now allowing pre-orders to just convert their existing Roam plan to Residential, instead of making them buy a new dish. Glad they got back to you quickly!
I’m receiving my dishy next week but very high tree lines & obstruction at new home. I like to keep my dishy and get it on roam, so I can pause (how long can you pause) and keep it as back up or for travel. The deposit waitlist was for residential originally. How can I keep the dishy and switch or start Roam account? Ty
You just follow the steps in this article when your dish arrives. You can change to Roam and then pause the billing for as long as you want.
My wife purchased RV service through her email account a year ago. I was waiting in line for standard service. I recently received an option to convert to residential but through my email. It wants me to buy another dish. Is there any way to avoid having to buy a new dish and try to return it?
For pre-order’s, no, there is no way to bring in existing equipment. The waitlist option was specifically a deposit to buy new equipment and service when it becomes available. The only way to add existing equipment to Residential would be if your area had completely open availability (no waitlist).
I ordered a starlink roam in Miami and after a few months I moved to south America now I have a message that indicates that I only can you my starlink if I switch to a global service, is there any way I could still pay the regional service amount or am I stuck with global we’re talking about a $50 difference
You could cancel/transfer the equipment out of your account, and then activate the dish on a new account with a shipping address in South America in order to maintain Regional Roam.
Hi, I just ordered residential for a rural area in Ontario.
We plan to build here on our lot next yr, but for now it is seasonal.
Can we pause the account during the winter months?
Our home in southern ontario is waitlisted for starlink service and don’t need it down there
The Residential plan cannot be paused, you will have to continue making the monthly payments if you want to keep your spot. If the area isn’t waitlisted you could risk just cancelling and signing back up later, but you run the risk of not being able to reactivate on Residential if capacity fills up.
Roam to Residential: I understand that I would wait until the billing cycle for the switch. But what about the speeds. Say I took this camping for a couple weeks utilizing Roam. Then when I get home I’d like to switch to residential. Will the speeds immediately go back to residential even though I’m paying the higher Roam charge for the remainder of the cycle. Or am I stuck on Roam until the cycle change. Thanks very much for any answers!
If even allowed to switch back to Residential (they keep changing things), the speeds would change with the plan, at the start of the new billing cycle.
Hey
I am planning to get starlink for travel purposes and residential as well, i was wondering if i switch plans residential to RVs. Would i be able to pause service at any moment?
You can hit the pause button whenever, but it works based on the billing cycle. So if you hit pause today, you might have another 2 weeks worth of service on the billing cycle that you’ve already paid for. After the cycle ends, service/billing will be paused until you activate it.
I did the deposit for the waitlist for residential. However, I am needing internet much faster than the waitlist can get me so now I am wanting to sign up for roam. I don’t see a way to convert to roam after I paid the deposit for residential. Do I need to cancel and refund my deposit then sign up for roam? Also, does service work the same with roam as residential as far as quality?
You will have to start a new order. You can keep the deposit in place if you want Residential later on. Roam will be slower and more inconsistent, especially during peak usage hours.
Hi, I ordered the dish for the residential. Waitlisted, I signed up for mobile. Its been about 6 weeks. So I have on my account two status boxes which read:
Local: Disconnected
Roaming-Regional: 0058XXX, 06B2XXX
I have paused the Roaming for now.
Does the Local: Disconnected mean that I have the local plan now? All I have to do is set up a new starlink(essentially removing roaming from my equip so I can use residential)
My thoughts:The only thing I can think of is I do have starlink and I just need to “create a new starlink” and place it on local? I havent received an email saying that I am off of the waitlist. Im under the impression that I have to completely remove the starlink from the roaming plan. I rather not unlink it unless I am for sure I can get to residential
hope that makes sense!
If it says Local: Disconnected in the app, it just means you aren’t connected to the Starlink Wifi, and are looking at your system remotely.
I went from the US to Canada. I have US residential Standard plan. I went to change my service to Roaming to be able to use Starlink in Canada, but the Change Service link is inactive. What do I need to do? Did I need to change before I crossed the border? It just seems to want me to transfer my equipment. ???
In the account portal, do you have a map section where you can update your service address? You could try that. Otherwise, if the Change Service button is not working, I would recommend contacting support to see what the issue is.
I have just now looked at purchasing Starlink. I am in Rural Canada and can purchase for $199 plus the monthly amount of $140.00 indicated. Once received can I convert it from Residential to Roam and pay the extended fee?
Yes, you will be able to convert immediately to Roam if you wish.
Hi Burt! I’m just wondering if you did this, and if it was successful? I saw that offer as well and was worried they would restrict it.
Hey Bert, also curious if you did this and how it worked. Thanks.
I’m trying to transfer from a Roam account to an approved Residential, but when I confirm my new Residential, it forces me to buy the hardware (which I already have).
How should I do it?
You can currently only transfer in equipment to Residential if the address has open availability. It won’t work for pre-order deposit holders trying to confirm their order. If there is open availability, during checkout, you will see a checkbox that says “I already have my Starlink”. Check it, type in the kit #, and the price should go down to only the monthly fee.
I’m a full time RVr but not on the road but a couple time a year typically north summer south winter, but not at the same park or city typically. I have a SD address that is a mail service and is not on waitlist. It is my domiciled address.
1. Can I use this address even though I’m not physically there? (Assuming it uses GPS?) Would I need to put in a change of address to the physical location?
2. If one is required to do a change of address and I happen to go to say SoCal and the area is on a waitlist what would happen if I put a change in service area? Would it be able to be used?
3. How often can a change of address be put in?
If you’re talking about RV, you don’t need to worry about addresses. RV service doesn’t have a service address, so you can just travel with it and not worry about updating anything. For Residential, you need to set a service address and physically be there to activate the dish. If you purchase Portability for Residential, it allows you to travel with it, but your service address would remain unchanged. The limitation there is that Starlink doesn’t want Portability users to be in one location, away from the service address, for more than 2 months at a time.
Our service originally is residential, beginning of this year (February 2022) we add portability for RV use and did not have any issues putting it back on for residential. Unfortunately, our last trip to Las Vegas hubby changed it to RV service and now we cannot change it back to residential service. It seems he did not add the portability before switching it to RV service. I am now having issues with my other remote jobs because I could not connect. Lastly, my upload is only 7.97 mbps. How can I speed this up?
RV service is deprioritized on the network, which means your speeds will be slower and more inconsistent. Since you cannot covert back to Residential once you converted to RV, you will need to order another Residential dish to restore previous performance at home.
OK, so today is day 30. I like the RV service, but I’m using it at home and speed does vary. It sounds like I need to cancel this service when residential is available again, because I cannot convert the account. So, can I just keep this until residential is offered and then cancel RV?
Yes I would just keep your RV dish, and pre-order to get on the waitlist for Residential. Then you can cancel (or pause) the RV dish.
Can I cancel my RV and then sign up for residential using the same equipment? Why do they have such horrible non existent customer service?
No, RV cannot be converted to Residential.
RV cannot be converted to Residential, ok, but can you resell the RV dish to folks off-market somehow to recuperate that investment, and then buy the Residential equipment on a new account?
Yes. Since the transfer process has changed since I posted this, it is now possible to resell an RV dish. Someone else can activate your old RV dish on a Residential plan, assuming their address is not waitlisted. They can also activate it on an RV plan if their address is waitlisted. I have a complete guide explaining the new process here:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/how-to-buy-sell-and-transfer-a-used-starlink/
So why, if the hardware is identical, can roam (rv) not be converted to residential but residential can be converted to roam (rv)???
So that people can’t bypass the waitlist. Roam can be converted to Residential if your area isn’t waitlisted.
I live in my RV at an RV park. I signed up for Starlink RV abut want
to change to residential. Is this possible, and if so how do I do this?
It’s not possible to change from RV to Residential.
is their a limit to the number of times you can pause and restart. E.g. turn on very second month.
No there is no limit. You will be billed in monthly increments, though. It cannot be prorated.
While it can be paused the otuer big difference is RV will give slower tier service than residential residential/ portability option when network is congested.
Both RV and Portability users that are not at their service address will be slower speeds during network congestion.
How much slower is the best effort service? I bought the unit for service at our cabin in Northern Wisconsin where we do not get cable. In the last 12 months of ownership I’ve actually used it for maybe 10 total days. I’d love to be able to pause and restart service as needed, even for a higher cost, but the de-prioritization is certainly a concern.
It depends on how congested the area is. If it’s in a rural area with few other Starlink users, you might not even notice slower speeds. In congested areas with a lot of Starlink users, speeds might go down into the single digits during peak hours.