Starlink has finally added role-based access control (RBAC) to the user management system on Residential and Business accounts. Back in February, I first covered how Starlink added the ability to configure multiple users on the same Starlink account. At the time, all users on the account had the same admin permissions. With this latest update, you’ll be able to assign permissions to users on your account, giving you more control over the information and functions that each user has access to.
What is role-based access control?
Role-based access control, or RBAC, gives you the ability to customize the permissions for each user on your Starlink account. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you are a landlord, and one of your rentals has Starlink. With RBAC, you can add your tenants as additional users on the Starlink account. By configuring the tenants under the “Billing” role, they will be able to set up payments and manage all aspects of billing. You’ll retain control over the equipment, support, and user management.
Another example – You can create user accounts for family members. By configuring those accounts with the “Technical” and “Support” roles, they will be able to access the support FAQ’s and create tickets, but they won’t be able to access any billing information, buy accessories, etc.
RBAC gives you flexibility by allowing you to customize the access that each Starlink account user has to equipment, billing, and support.
Roles available
Starlink has provided a lot of options when it comes to the specific roles and permissions that are available. In total, there are nine roles to choose from, and users can be assigned multiple roles to really customize their permissions.
Admin – Each account requires at least one Admin. The Admin role has full permissions for the Starlink account.
Technical – Technical users have the ability to manage service plans and equipment. They can reboot, stow, configure the IP policy, etc.
Technical Read Only – This role has read only access to information about service plans and equipment settings.
Billing – The Billing role has access to anything that impacts your monthly bill, like making payments, ordering accessories, viewing invoices, canceling service, etc.
Billing Read Only – The read only version of the Billing role can view invoices and orders, but cannot make changes or place orders.
Support – The Support role has the ability to create service tickets. All users will have access to the support FAQ section, but the ability to create and respond to tickets requires the Support role. This will often be combined with the Technical role.
Support Read Only – The read only version of Support can view past support tickets, but can’t respond to open tickets or create new ones.
User Management – The User Management role can add and edit users on the Starlink account, and edit the role-based permissions.
User Management Read Only – Can only view users and roles.
For more information on what each role does, check out this section of the Starlink support FAQ.
Adding users and assigning roles
You can add users and assign roles from the Starlink.com account portal. After you log in to the account portal, just hit the gear icon from the menu to access user settings. You’ll be able to add roles to existing users, or create new user accounts.
For more detail on how to add and manage users on your Starlink account, check out our full tutorial here.
A few limitations to know about
The roles only apply on the Starlink website, not on the Starlink app, for this initial rollout of the RBAC feature. In the future, roles will sync between the website and app, allowing you to limit access in both places. But for now, roles only apply for the Starlink.com website.
Targeted emails will come in a future release. Right now, Starlink can’t email specific roles with relevant information, but that might be available in the future. For example, you might want payment and other billing emails to only go to users assigned to the Billing role.
Lastly, Residential accounts are limited to 3 users, and Business accounts are limited to 500 users.
Final thoughts
Role-based access control is a great addition to Starlink accounts. It gives account owners more control and flexibility when it comes to allowing other people to help manage their Starlink service. For businesses, roles will allow users to access functions relevant to their jobs. For the average home internet user, roles will allow easy and customizable access for friends, family members, or tenants.
I’m happy to see Starlink continues to expand the account portal and features, even for Residential accounts. Let me know what you think about this update in the comment section below. Do you have any specific use-case for these new user roles? I’d love to hear how you plan to use them.