Satellite broadband in the UK: Starlink, alternatives and whether it's right for your home

Take-up is rising fastest where other options are weakest — Ofcom notes continued growth in satellite broadband in Scotland, for example. But satellite is also usually the most expensive way to get online, and Starlink's UK price can differ from one address to the next. This guide starts by checking whether you need satellite at all, then works out the two-year cost, what performance to expect in British weather, and how to install it.

Do you actually need satellite?

Satellite is the right answer when fibre isn't coming soon, mobile signal fails an evening test, your current line can't cover what your household needs — and you can give a dish a clear view of the sky. Work through the questions below. If you don't know an answer, choose "I don't know": we'll tell you what to check rather than guess.

1. Is full fibre available, or coming soon? Check your exact address, and whether you're in a Project Gigabit contract area. Build dates often slip, so treat "coming soon" as a confirmed date within about a year. If fibre is months away, a short-term option on a rolling contract may make more sense than a satellite set-up. See how to check your exact address.
2. Does 4G or 5G work indoors in the evening? Mobile home broadband is usually cheaper than satellite and needs no dish. Test it properly first, and remember that a better window or an outdoor unit can sometimes rescue a weak indoor signal: try 4G/5G before satellite.
3. Is your current line good enough? If a slow line covers email, browsing and HD streaming for your household, satellite may be an expensive upgrade you don't need. If you work from home, a cheap backup may solve the real problem. If your line is below 10Mbps download, you may also be able to request a better connection under the Universal Service Obligation.
4. Can you give a dish a clear view of the sky? Use the obstruction check in the Starlink app from the spot where you'd mount the dish before you order.

If you answered no to the first three and yes to the last, satellite is likely your best option. Read on.

How satellite broadband works: LEO vs GEO

Every satellite service works the same way in outline: a dish on your property talks to satellites overhead, which relay your traffic to a ground station connected to the internet. What changes everything is how high the satellites fly.

Low Earth orbit: why it changed satellite broadband

Because LEO satellites are so much closer, the round trip is short enough that video calls, online meetings and many games work normally. The trade-off is that each satellite passes overhead in minutes, so thousands are needed for continuous coverage, and your dish needs a wide, clear view of the sky to keep switching between them.

Geostationary: when it still makes sense

A geostationary satellite stays above the same spot, so the dish never moves — but the signal has to travel tens of thousands of kilometres up and back, and that delay can't be engineered away. Web browsing and email work; video calls feel laggy and fast-paced games are impractical. For most UK homes considering satellite today, LEO is the better choice. Starlink is available across most of the UK, but its cheaper Residential 100Mbps and 200Mbps plans are only offered in select areas, and some addresses face a one-off "demand surcharge" when ordering. Enter your address on starlink.com to see what applies.

Satellite options in the UK today

In practice, UK households choosing satellite in late 2026 are choosing between Starlink plans, with Amazon Leo on the horizon.

Starlink residential plans and area-based pricing

Standard prices are from Starlink's UK contract summary dated 28 October 2026. Promotional and area prices are from Starlink's UK site on 8 November 2026 and from ISPreview's reports; Standby Mode's price is reported by ISPreview, as Starlink's help pages don't give one.

On top of the monthly price. Most new UK customers now rent the dish and router rather than buying them. A £10-a-month kit fee for new customers was reported from June 2026, and ISPreview later reported confusion over whether it had been removed, so check the current charge on the order page. Shipping was reported at £19, and at some addresses there's a one-off demand surcharge. A rented kit stays Starlink's property and must be returned within 30 days of cancelling, or Starlink charges the full retail price. Check the order page for your address to see whether you can buy the kit outright instead.

What area-based pricing means for you. Promotions and discounts are often limited to "select areas" — Starlink offered area-limited discounts in March 2026, for example. Since late October 2026 the order page has also shown an area-based price adjustment. When ISPreview and its readers checked on 30–31 October, prices ranged from about 20% below to 20% above the £40 base, with some London and Bristol addresses still showing £40. It isn't clear whether existing customers get reductions automatically. Promotional discounts last for a fixed period and then revert to the full price. Starlink doesn't publish a central list of price changes, so the only reliable price is the one shown for your exact address on the day you order.

Standby Mode: pausing without disconnecting

In August 2025 Starlink replaced its free "pause" option in the UK with Standby Mode: you keep your account and dish active at a heavily reduced speed (up to 0.5Mbps) for a monthly fee. That's enough for messages, email and basic browsing, not for video. It's useful for holiday homes, seasonal use, or as a low-cost emergency backup — but only if you own your kit and aren't on a promotional price. You can cancel and restart instead, but a rented kit must be returned after cancelling, and your old plan may not be available when you come back.

Roam and Mini: for travel, boats and holiday lets

Starlink's Roam plans and its compact Mini dish are designed for use on the move or at different locations, rather than one fixed home address. They suit motorhomes, boats and some holiday lets. Starlink's UK contract summary lists Roam at £55 a month for 100GB or £100 a month unlimited (standard prices, October 2026); the Roam page showed a 30% offer for sign-ups by 30 November 2026.

Amazon Leo: what's confirmed, and what isn't

Amazon's satellite service — called Project Kuiper until it was renamed Amazon Leo in November 2025 — received Ofcom approval to operate in the UK in February 2025. It is not yet available to UK homes. Since November 2025 Amazon has been testing it with selected business customers (an "enterprise preview"). In October 2026 Amazon said it was on track to begin initial service before the end of 2026, but it hasn't announced UK consumer prices or a launch date. Regulatory filings have revealed its home router, and its first-generation satellites are reported to cover only up to about 56° north, so much of the Highlands and Islands may have to wait. If you need a connection now, don't wait for it.

Local installers

You can order Starlink directly and fit it yourself, or use a local installer. Installers typically supply and fit mounts and poles, route the cable neatly through walls, weatherproof the entry point and set up Wi-Fi across larger or thick-walled buildings. Before hiring one, ask for: a fixed written quote, the mount type and position they propose, proof of insurance, and whether they'll come back if the obstruction check shows problems after installation. NetSaver doesn't recommend or work with any installer.

True cost of ownership over 24 months

The monthly price is only part of what satellite costs. Here is a worked example for Starlink Residential 100Mbps over two years, using the standard price and the lowest area price reported in late October 2026, and assuming the reported £10-a-month kit fee and £19 shipping apply. Your own figures may differ — use the calculator below with the prices shown for your address.

Electricity is easy to forget. Starlink lists average power consumption for its Standard kit at 75–100 watts. Running all day, that's 1.8–2.4kWh a day, or roughly 657–876kWh a year — far more than a typical fibre router. At the October–December 2026 price cap average of 26.32p per kWh for electricity, that's about £173–£231 a year, or £346–£461 over two years. Your unit rate may be different, so check your bill. Snow-melt heating can raise consumption in winter.

Compare the cost over 24 months

Compare satellite with the other options at your address, using the prices shown for your address. Prices you enter stay in this browser tab.

This tool needs JavaScript, which seems to be switched off or still loading. The guide around it explains the same steps in words.

Compare over1 to 60 monthsmonths

Starting monthAs YYYY-MM; this month by default

Electricity unit rate (optional)From your bill, in pence per kWhp/kWh

Option A

Name (optional)

Regular monthly price£

One-off costsSet-up, installation, delivery£

Promotional monthly price (optional)£

Promotion lastsmonths

Router, dish or other equipment

Included or none Buy outright Rent monthly

Price rises written into the contract

First rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

First rise, per month£

Second rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

Second rise, per month£

Average power draw (optional)For electricity cost; leave empty to excludeW

Option B

Name (optional)

Regular monthly price£

One-off costsSet-up, installation, delivery£

Promotional monthly price (optional)£

Promotion lastsmonths

Router, dish or other equipment

Included or none Buy outright Rent monthly

Price rises written into the contract

First rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

First rise, per month£

Second rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

Second rise, per month£

Average power draw (optional)For electricity cost; leave empty to excludeW

Option C

Name (optional)

Regular monthly price£

One-off costsSet-up, installation, delivery£

Promotional monthly price (optional)£

Promotion lastsmonths

Router, dish or other equipment

Included or none Buy outright Rent monthly

Price rises written into the contract

First rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

First rise, per month£

Second rise fromMonth, as YYYY-MM

Second rise, per month£

Average power draw (optional)For electricity cost; leave empty to excludeW

How the calculator works

Each option’s total is the monthly price for every month in the period (promotional months at the promotional price), plus each price rise from its month onwards, plus one-off costs, plus equipment — either bought once or rented every month, never both — plus electricity if you give a power draw and a unit rate (watts × 24 hours × 30.4 days per month ÷ 1,000 × your rate). Amounts are worked out in pence. It doesn’t include early exit fees, credits, cashback or price changes not written into the contract. More in our methodology.

How satellite compares on cost

Satellite is rarely the cheapest option. It earns its cost where it is the only option that works well — and that, not price, is the right basis for the decision.

Performance in real UK conditions

Speed, latency and busy times

Starlink's UK contract summary (October 2026) says Residential 100Mbps normally delivers 80–100Mbps downloads and 15–35Mbps uploads at peak times, with 25–50ms latency. That's comfortably enough for HD and 4K streaming, video calls and home working for a typical household, and far better than any slow copper line. These are Starlink's own figures, not our measurements.

Two caveats. First, satellite capacity is shared among users in the same area, and ISPreview's view is that Starlink's area-based prices reflect how busy the local network is: where the network is busier, both prices and evening speeds can be less favourable. Second, speeds vary moment to moment as your dish switches between satellites. For most uses you won't notice; for competitive online gaming you might.

Rain, snow and wind

Starlink rates its Standard dish for operation from −30°C to +50°C, for wind speeds of 96km/h and above, and says it can melt snow at up to 40mm an hour. In practice:

• Heavy rain can cause short slowdowns or brief drop-outs during the worst downpours, as with any satellite service.
• Snow is melted by the dish's built-in heating, at the cost of extra electricity. Settled snow around the dish (on a roof ledge, for example) can still block it.
• Wind is mostly a mounting question: a dish on a properly secured pole or wall bracket is far more reliable than one on the supplied stand in an exposed garden.

Trees, buildings and the obstruction check

For most homes, obstructions are a bigger risk than weather. The dish needs a wide, clear view of the sky — Starlink lists a 110° field of view — and anything that repeatedly blocks part of it (a tree, a chimney, a neighbouring building) causes brief interruptions that are most noticeable on video calls.

Before you order, or before you drill, use the obstruction checker in the Starlink app: you hold your phone up from the proposed spot and it maps what's in the way. Remember that trees grow and come into leaf: a clear view in February may not be clear in July. If the ground-level view is poor, a roof or pole mount usually solves it.

Installing satellite broadband

Choosing the mount and cable route

The Standard Starlink dish is a flat panel about 59 × 38cm, supplied with a stand and a 15-metre cable. Your options, roughly from easiest to most robust:

Cable entry: run the cable through a sealed hole in a window frame or wall, sloping slightly downward from inside to outside so water doesn't track in. Inside, place the router centrally rather than where the cable happens to arrive; thick stone walls often need a mesh Wi-Fi system or an Ethernet run.

Planning permission, listed buildings and leases

The rules differ across the UK. This is a summary, not legal advice: check with your council's planning team if you're unsure.

• England. A dish on a house is usually permitted development (no planning application needed) if there are no more than two antennas on the property, only one of them longer than 60cm and none longer than 100cm — measured in any direction, excluding brackets. A dish on a chimney must be no longer than 60cm, and a roof- or pole-mounted dish must not stick up above the roof ridge or chimney. The Standard Starlink dish measures about 71cm corner to corner, so it is generally fine on a wall, a roof slope or in the garden, but too big for a chimney mount. In conservation areas, National Parks, National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), the Broads and World Heritage Sites, the extra limit is about position: no dish on a chimney, wall or roof slope that faces onto, and is visible from, a road.
• Wales. Similar rules to England: up to two dishes, 100cm for a single dish and 60cm for an additional one, with stricter siting rules in designated areas.
• Scotland. The rules work differently: a small dish on a house is usually allowed if it sticks out no more than 1 metre from the wall or roof, but this permitted development right doesn't apply in conservation areas, so check with your council first.
• Northern Ireland. Very similar to England: two antennas, a 100cm maximum, 60cm on a chimney, and tighter siting rules in conservation areas and other designated areas.

Everywhere in the UK, you'll usually need permission, or at least to check first, if:

• the building is listed (listed building consent covers changes to its character, including dishes);
• you live in a flat or maisonette, where different rules apply;
• your council has removed permitted development rights in your area (in England, an "Article 4 direction");
• you rent or own on a lease — your landlord's or freeholder's consent is a separate requirement from planning.

If in doubt, the Planning Portal (England and Wales) and your council's planning team can tell you before you drill.

Power and backup

Satellite broadband stops in a power cut unless the dish and router have backup power. Because the kit draws 75–100W on average — many times a fibre router — a small router UPS won't run it for long. Size the UPS for the dish and router together, check the manufacturer's runtime chart, and expect higher draw in snow-melt mode. Our backup internet guide explains how to size a UPS and when Standby Mode makes sense.

Contracts, phone calls and your rights

Terms, price changes and cancelling

Starlink residential service is sold monthly rather than on a long minimum term, which is a real advantage if fibre may arrive in a year or two. When you cancel, a rented kit must be sent back within 30 days or you'll be charged its full retail price. Prices can change: Starlink raised most UK plans by about £5 a month in mid-2026, and area-based prices and promotions have come and gone since. Read any price-change email carefully, and check the order page for your address if you're thinking of switching plans.

Starlink is a UK broadband provider and follows core Ofcom consumer rules: it publishes a contract summary, has a complaints code, and if a complaint isn't resolved you can take it to the CISAS dispute resolution scheme. Some schemes don't cover it, though:

• Automatic compensation doesn't apply. Ofcom's scheme covers residential fixed broadband and landline products from signatory providers, and Starlink isn't one of them.
• Don't count on One Touch Switch when moving to or from satellite: cancel your old service yourself, and time the changeover so you don't pay twice for long.
• Hardware returns and refunds depend on Starlink's own terms and your statutory rights as a consumer, so keep your order confirmation.

Making phone and 999 calls over satellite

Satellite broadband doesn't come with a phone line. You can make calls using a mobile (on Wi-Fi calling, where your network supports it) or an internet phone service running over the connection. Any internet-based phone only works while the dish and router have power and a clear view of the sky, and you should ask your internet phone provider how it handles 999 calls and your address before relying on it. Starlink itself says its service isn't intended for safety-critical use, so if you rely on a phone for safety (for example telecare), talk to your telecare provider and keep a mobile as backup.

Satellite vs fibre vs 5G for rural homes

The usual rural path: full fibre if it's coming soon; 4G/5G if your evening signal test passes; satellite if neither works — and keep a cheap backup if you work from home.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Starlink cost in the UK?

Starlink's standard UK price for Residential 100Mbps is £40 a month, but the price shown can be lower at some addresses: £32 and £36 were seen in late October 2026, and a time-limited offer from £28 runs for sign-ups by 30 November 2026. New customers usually also pay a monthly kit fee if they rent the dish (reported at £10), shipping (reported at £19) and, at some addresses, a one-off demand surcharge. Check the price for your address at starlink.com before ordering.

Why is Starlink cheaper at some addresses than others?

Starlink offers some prices and promotions only in "select areas", and since late October 2026 its order page has shown an area-based price adjustment. Starlink hasn't explained the reason; ISPreview's view is that it reflects how much spare network capacity there is locally.

Is satellite broadband worth it in the UK?

It's worth considering if you can't get full fibre or a strong 4G/5G signal and need more than a few megabits. Low Earth orbit services like Starlink offer much lower latency than older geostationary satellite. It needs a clear view of the sky, mains power and usually costs more than fibre.

Is Starlink better than 4G or 5G home broadband?

Only where your mobile signal is weak. If 4G or 5G performs well indoors in the evening, it's usually cheaper and simpler. Where mobile signal is poor or patchy, Starlink is generally more consistent.

Does Starlink work in rain and snow?

Yes, mostly. The dish is rated for −30°C to +50°C and can melt snow at up to 40mm an hour, using extra power. Very heavy rain can cause brief slowdowns. Secure mounting matters more than weather for reliability.

Do I need planning permission for a Starlink dish?

Usually not for a dish on the wall or roof of a house, but the rules differ for listed buildings, conservation areas, flats and chimney mounts — in England the Standard dish is too big for a chimney — and they vary between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Check your council's guidance and any lease or tenancy terms before you drill or mount anything.

Can I pause Starlink, and what is Standby Mode?

In the UK, Starlink replaced its free pause with Standby Mode in August 2025: a very slow (up to 0.5Mbps) connection for a monthly fee, reported at about £9 since mid-2026. It isn't available if you rent your kit or are on a promotional price. You can cancel and restart instead, but rented kit must be returned after cancelling, and your old plan may not be available when you come back.

Can I make phone calls over satellite broadband?

Yes, using Wi-Fi calling on your mobile or an internet phone service. Calls stop in a power cut unless the kit has backup power, so ask your internet phone provider how it handles 999 calls before relying on it.

When will Amazon Leo be available in the UK?

Amazon hasn't announced a UK consumer launch date or prices. The service has Ofcom approval and is being tested with selected business customers; in October 2026 Amazon said it was on track to begin initial service by the end of 2026.

What speed does Starlink get in the UK?

Starlink's UK contract summary (October 2026) says Residential 100Mbps normally delivers 80–100Mbps downloads and 15–35Mbps uploads at peak times, with 25–50ms latency. Higher tiers are available. Real speeds vary with local demand and obstructions.

How we checked this guide

Prices, plan details and terms were checked on Starlink's UK website, contract summary, terms and specification sheet, Amazon's announcements, Ofcom and UK planning legislation on 8 November 2026. Where a figure comes from reports rather than the provider — for example, area prices seen by ISPreview's readers — we say so. We have not installed or tested satellite equipment ourselves, and we can't see the price Starlink shows for your address. More detail is in our methodology.

Sources

• Starlink — Residential (UK)
• Starlink — UK contract summary (October 2026)
• Starlink — UK terms of service
• Starlink — Standard kit specification sheet
• Starlink — Specifications
• Starlink — Standby Mode (help)
• ISPreview — Starlink cuts 100Mbps UK plan to £32 as other prices rise (October 2026)
• ISPreview — Starlink cuts UK prices by 10% in selected areas (March 2026)
• ISPreview — New UK Starlink customers hit by £10 monthly kit fee (June 2026)
• ISPreview — Confusion as Starlink removes £10 monthly kit fee (July 2026)
• ISPreview — Starlink price rises, including Standby Mode (May 2026)
• ISPreview — Starlink replaces free pause with paid Standby Mode (August 2025)
• ISPreview — No Standby Mode on Starlink's V5 dish (August 2026)
• Amazon — Project Kuiper receives approval to offer satellite internet in the UK
• Amazon — What is Amazon Leo? (UK)
• Amazon — Q3 2026 update
• ISPreview — First look at Amazon Leo's Wi-Fi router (May 2026)
• ISPreview — Amazon Leo and northern Scotland coverage (December 2025)
• Konnect — UK
• Ofcom — Nations report 2025
• Ofcom — Automatic compensation: what you need to know
• Planning Portal — Satellite, TV and radio antenna
• legislation.gov.uk — General Permitted Development (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1
• legislation.gov.uk — General Permitted Development Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, Part 1
• legislation.gov.uk — General Permitted Development (Scotland) Order 1992, Schedule 1
• legislation.gov.uk — General Permitted Development Order 1995 (Wales), Schedule 2, Part 1
• Ofgem — Energy price cap, 1 October to 31 December 2026