What happens at the cap
So the dish keeps working, your account stays active, and there’s no surprise charge. What changes is speed, for the rest of the billing month.
What still works on low speed
| Task | On low speed |
|---|---|
| Email, texts, messaging apps | Works |
| Wi-Fi calling, voice calls | Works |
| Maps and weather | Likely slow; not named by Starlink |
| Video streaming | Limited |
| Video calls for work | Limited |
| Big downloads, phone and laptop updates | Limited |
Your three options mid-month
- Wait it out. If your billing date is a few days away and you can live on email and texts, do nothing.
- Upgrade. From 100GB to 300GB ($80/mo) or to Unlimited ($175/mo), in the app under Subscription. Starlink says switching mid-cycle gives you the new plan’s full usage limit. You stay on it for future months until you switch back.
- Shift heavy use to another network. Campground Wi-Fi or a phone hotspot for the big downloads; keep Roam for the rest.
Avoid it next month
- Size the plan to your busiest month. Averages hide the two-week trip that eats the allowance. The picker sizes to the peak.
- Turn down streaming quality. Netflix’s own figures: HD is up to 3 GB an hour, standard definition up to 1 GB. See data per activity.
- Stop automatic updates and cloud backups on laptops and phones while on Roam data; run them on campground Wi-Fi.
- Watch the data counter in the Starlink app a week into each trip.
Why it surprises people
Roam’s smallest plan used to be 50GB and Unlimited used to be the default for RVers, so a lot of advice online is out of date. The allowance, the price and the after-cap behavior have each changed. Every dated change is in the travel-rules changelog.
Questions people ask
Do I get charged extra if I go over 100GB or 300GB?
No. Starlink doesn’t bill overage on Roam 100GB or 300GB. Service drops to unlimited low-speed data until your next billing date, unless you upgrade.
Can I stream on low-speed data?
Don’t count on it. Starlink says low-speed supports email, calls and texts, and that video streaming, large downloads and video calls “will be limited”. It doesn’t publish the low speed for Roam.
If I upgrade mid-month, do I keep the bigger plan?
Yes. Starlink says once you upgrade you stay on the bigger plan for future billing cycles until you switch back. Set a reminder to downgrade if you only needed it for one trip.
When does my data reset?
On your billing date each month. Plan changes must be made before midnight UTC on your billing day, which is 8 p.m. Eastern or 5 p.m. Pacific the evening before during daylight time.
Sources
- What are the Roam service plans? (Starlink help center), read from starlink.com’s published data, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Roam plans and kits for US addresses (starlink.com public order data), read from starlink.com’s published data, checked Oct 5, 2026
- Service Plan Changes (Starlink help center), read from starlink.com’s published data, checked Oct 5, 2026
- How does pausing service work? (Starlink help center), read from starlink.com’s published data, checked Oct 5, 2026