Starlink is getting a little cheaper for some. | Image: Starlink

Starlink, Elon Muskā€™s internet-from-space service provided by SpaceX, is notifying customers with some good news: their monthly subscriptions have been reduced in response to ā€œlocal market conditions.ā€

I received one of these notifications for my Starlink RV service that normally costs me ā‚¬124 each month in the Netherlands. It says, ā€œEffective 8/24/2022, Starlink is reducing your monthly service fee to ā‚¬105.ā€ Well, ok.

The price cut is welcome at a time when everything else is getting more expensive due to inflation. ā€œThe price reduction factors in your local market conditions and is meant to reflect parity in purchasing power across our customers,ā€ reads the announcement.

The situation in the US is less clear

Others are reporting similar discounts in locations around the world. For example, on Reddit a person in the UK reports a reduction in their monthly fee to Ā£75 (down from Ā£89), Mexico to $1,100 MXN (down from $2,299 MXN), and Germany ā‚¬80 (down from ā‚¬100). Users in Chile and Brazil are reporting price cuts of around 50 percent. A spot check on Starlinkā€™s respective service pages in each country supports the above claims.

The situation in the US, where the dollar has been surging against foreign currencies, is less clear. A person in Nevada reports getting a reduction to $85 (was $110) but Starlinkā€™s own pages still show a monthly subscription price of $110 after a one-time $599 purchase of the hardware kit. A few other people claiming to be from the US note that they havenā€™t received any price reduction.

So far thereā€™s no mention of a reduction in speed or the addition of strict data caps following the discounted subscriptions.

SpaceX and T-Mobile will host a joint event later today where Elon Musk will be on hand to announce plans to ā€œincrease connectivity.ā€ Itā€™s unclear if the event has any relation to the new pricing.

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