Starlink might be meant for the underserved rural people, but a Starlink Vs. Starlink Business comparison is necessary for users moving from Starlink business vs. personal.
Unlike Starlink Personal, Starlink Business offers almost double the speed with powerful upgraded equipment.
Starlink business’s high-performance dish covers 35% more of the sky to remain aligned to satellites within its location’s cells.
While Starlink Residential and Business have similar latency, Business Starlink gives users a public static IP to set up a personal business profile with email and a website.
We’ll tell you more about Starlink Business’s upgraded features and how they compare against Personal Starlink.
Starlink Business vs. Personal
Starlink has several plans fit for every subscriber.
The Starlink Residential or Starlink Personal is the most common plan, with its users mostly being people in permanent homes.
Starlink Business is also popular with businesses that operate in rural locations and want reliable internet services.
These two models serve different classes of users.
Other plans include Starlink ROAM(Starlink RV) for land travelers, Starlink Maritime for marine operations and Starlink Aviation for fast satellite internet in the air.
Personal Starlink and Business vary in virtually every category. Let’s break it down.
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Starlink Business Cost Vs. Starlink Residential
The cost difference between Residential and Business Starlink is glaring, and for good cause.
Starlink Residential currently costs $120 in the U.S. and closer areas. Worldwide, costs range from $90 to $164 per month.
This isn’t counting the $599 equipment fee for the standard Starlink Residential kit.
On the other hand, Starlink Business costs $500 monthly in all territories(at least 60 countries) where Starlink is available.
Additionally, it carries a $2500 equipment cost for the vastly different kit.
Starlink Business Equipment Vs. Starlink Residential
Speaking of equipment, the Business and Residential kits are miles apart.
The Starlink Business equipment package features a bigger, upgraded High-Performance dish.
The dish is enhanced to cover 35% more sky in an area with minimal obstructions to capture more signals from low-earth orbit.
Additionally, it can recover faster when a satellite is out of the designated cell. Therefore, it ensures you get more uptime if there is any interruption.
That’s not all. The High-Performance dish is optimized to handle bad weather. It is heavier and withstands strong wind, heavy snow, and rain.
Still, it’s not to say that Starlink Residential’s equipment is a performance slouch.
The Residential kit includes a router, cables (Starlink cable, ethernet cable, router cable), default tripod mount, and the Gen-2 dish light enough for DIY home installation.
It makes it easy to carry around, especially when you need to mount it.
We must point out that the Starlink Business High-performance dish needs more power than Starlink Residential to run.
It uses twice the power per hour(1 kW/h) that a regular Starlink personal dish uses.
Starlink Business Speeds Vs. Starlink Residential
Starlink Business targets businesses and government entities that rely on high speeds.
To that end, Starlink Business subscribers get 200-250 Mbps download and 40 Mbps upload speeds.
On the contrary, Starlink Residential targets homes that need reliable and fast speeds.
And while speeds for Residential subscribers may not hit the 200 Mbps mark, they do hit 90-110 Mbs download and 5-20 Mbps upload speeds.
Of course, the speeds wouldn’t be so impressive if latency was high. Fortunately, both plans offer about 20-50 ms latency.
However, these speeds and latency rates are subject to network availability, peak and off-peak hours and bandwidth.
Starlink Business IP Address Vs. Starlink Residential
Private company email
Another glaring difference between Starlink Business is the addressing system.
Starlink Business subscribers get a public static IP address.
Unlike residential Starlink, business users can host a personal business website, have a personalized business email and have a VPN to protect their incoming and outgoing traffic.
Starlink Residential users get a router with CGNAT, a feature where multiple users share a public address.
CGNAT limits the exhaustion of public usable addresses. However, it also limits interactive online gaming that relies on external incoming traffic.
To unlock the limitations, you must implement workarounds such as port forwarding and router bypassing.
Starlink Business Priority Data Vs. Starlink Residential
Priority data is the data the network allocates you to exhaust before lowering you to a lower tier.
Starlink Business users can choose a plan that offers 50 GB priority data up to 6 TB for higher consumers like big enterprises.
On the opposite end, Starlink Residential users access only 1 TB of priority data before getting bumped downwards.
Starlink Business Customer Service and Support Vs. Starlink Residential
Compared to other legacy ISPs, Starlink customer care has a longer response time.
However, Starlink Business subscribers get a better customer care experience than Starlink Residential users.
Starlink Business users have priority support. They have dedicated communication channels with dedicated representatives attending to their needs promptly.
Yet unlike the Business subscribers, Starlink Personal users have to wait at least 72 hours after submitting a ticket for customer service assistance.
They do not get priority service. However, some users report that the wait time can be between 24 and 72 hours after submitting a ticket.
Starlink Business Availability Vs. Starlink Residential
Starlink Business is a more recent plan compared to the Residential plan. Therefore, it is arguably available to more subscribers.
However, since it is recent, its coverage might be limited only to some areas.
On the other hand, Starlink Residential is more globally available. That availability is a problem. Due to its sheer high demand, it has a waitlist.
The waitlist features subscribers who’ve put down the $99 deposit while waiting for the service to become available in their areas.
Can You Travel with Starlink Business?
Yes, you can travel with Starlink Business.
Starlink’s in-motion kit is installed permanently in cars to keep you connected on the go.
The kit’s specialized Flat High-Performance dish is custom-made to receive signals as you move.
It’ll cost about $2500, but it comes in handy in emergencies and GPS-critical services.
However, you may get sketchy service as you move, especially in limited coverage areas.
Furthermore, you have to settle in an area with full coverage. Otherwise, you can opt for Starlink Residential with Portability.
While Starlink Residential with Portability won’t give you Starlink Business’s top speeds, you can handle your business as you move. Plus, you will get priority data service.
How Do You Sign Up for Starlink Business?
Getting Starlink for Business is simple.
- Go to the Starlink website and proceed to the Business section.
- Enter your shipping address.
- Check network coverage. The Starlink coverage map will tell you if you are in a high availability, limited coverage, or no coverage area.
- Order the Starlink Business package.
Is Starlink Business Good for Remote Operations?
We recommend Starlink Business for remote operations because of its high speed, low latency, high-powered equipment, and higher uptime.
It’ll hold a steady signal in a full coverage area in the face of erratic weather patterns.
Only the steep monthly fee and high initial one-time investment would make it unsuitable for remote operations.
Get the more affordable Starlink Residential if you’re not running a business in a remote area. Otherwise, Starlink Business is secure for remote operations in a rural setting.
Conclusion: Starlink Personal Or Business?
We recommend Starlink Business if you’re running a commercial operation that needs priority coverage, fast speeds, quick customer support, and short recovery time from downtime.
However, we recommend Starlink Residential for home use. It delivers enough speed for the family, pairs it with other devices to cover dead zones in a large house, and easily bypasses the router to increase performance.