Standby Mode doubles from $5 to $10 a month

What changed

In the same May 16, 2026 price update that raised Roam plans, RV Mobile Internet reported that Standby Mode doubled from $5 to $10 a month. As with Roam, new customers paid the new fee right away and existing customers moved to it on their first bill on or after June 18, 2026.

Standby Mode is how you pause Starlink now. Starlink’s help page describes it as providing “unlimited low-speed data for emergency messaging and easy reactivation in dead zones for a small monthly fee.” Our data records the low-speed cap as up to 500 Kbps down and up.

Standby replaced free pausing in August 2025, when it launched at $5. This is its first price rise.

Who is affected

• Seasonal travelers who pause between trips: weekend campers, snowbirds, people who use the RV a few months a year.
• Anyone who keeps a dish “parked” on Standby for emergency texting or to avoid re-activation hassle.

What it means for you

The fee itself is small, but it changes the math on pausing versus cancelling.

• A year on Standby now costs $120, up from $60.
• Six months paused each winter costs $60 instead of $30.

Pausing still has real benefits. Your dish keeps getting software updates, you can text in a dead zone, and Starlink says resuming is quick. Starlink’s page also says you won’t pay a demand surcharge when you resume from Standby. But if you travel only a few short trips a year, cancelling and restarting may now be cheaper, as long as you’re fine without that low-speed line.

What to do now:

1. Re-run the plan picker with your real travel months. It compares pausing with cancelling at today’s prices.
2. Check our yearly cost guide, which counts Standby months in the total.
3. Don’t use Standby while driving. Starlink says Standby “is not intended for in-motion use,” and the app shows “Disabled while moving” when you try. Our in-motion messages page explains it.

What stays the same

• Standby still gives unlimited low-speed data, not zero data.
• Starlink says pausing before the end of a paid month keeps full service until that month ends.
• Pausing more than 12 months in a row may still bring a fee or a required plan change, per Starlink.

How we handled this report

The $10 figure comes from a dated press report and is labeled reported across the site, because Starlink’s US help page doesn’t print a number. The other Standby rules quoted here come from starlink.com.