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Starlink’s hardware is only half the decision. The service plan you pair with it determines what the dish is allowed to do — whether it works in motion, how much data you can burn before deprioritization, and whether you can pause the bill between trips. Starlink restructures plans regularly, so this guide focuses on the durable structure behind the plans — and the accessories each plan type actually demands.
| Product | Best For | Key Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Best for Travelers - Roam-Ready Power Station |
| Check Price on Amazon |
 | Best for Roam Vehicles - Ladder Mount Kit |
| Check Price on Amazon |
| Best Home Upgrade - Pipe Adapter Ground Mount |
| Check Price on Amazon |
The Plan Families, Deconstructed
Across every price change Starlink has made, the lineup keeps the same skeleton — four service families aimed at different users:
- Residential (and Residential Lite) — fixed-address home internet. The dish is geofenced to your registered service address. Lite is cheaper but is deprioritized during network congestion — a real-world difference in busy cells. Pricing has ranged roughly $80–$120/month; check starlink.com for the current figure in your cell.
- Roam — the plan family that replaced “RV.” Two flavors: a metered Regional plan (around $50/month for 50GB) and Roam Unlimited (around $165/month) covering your continent, usable anywhere you travel and pausable month-to-month — the killer feature for seasonal users.
- Priority — business-grade plans (40GB to 6TB buckets) that get network priority over all consumer traffic, plus access to more capable hardware like the Flat High Performance dish. This is the tier for job sites, vessels, and enterprises.
- Local Priority / Maritime-tier hardware — specialized buckets for in-motion and mobile commercial use, generally paired with the Flat High Performance or enterprise antennas rather than the standard dishes.
What Each Plan Physically Allows
This is where plan choice stops being about price:
Residential: pinned to one place
The dish will refuse to operate meaningfully outside your registered cell. No RV weekends on the home plan — Roam exists precisely because Residential is geofenced. If you only have one address and no travel ambitions, Residential (or Lite) is the value play.
Roam: movement, with caveats
Roam Unlimited enables in-motion use — operating the dish while driving — but only on hardware capable of it. The standard Gen 3 dish is not rated for sustained in-motion tracking; the Flat High Performance and the Mini (for low-speed portable use) are the practical choices. Our in-motion guide covers which hardware works on a moving vehicle and how to mount it.
Priority: about the queue, not the speed
Priority plans don’t raise the ceiling — they move you ahead of the line. In congested cells (festivals, popular campgrounds, growing suburbs), Priority traffic stays fast while consumer plans throttle back. If your income depends on the connection, this is the insurance policy.
Matching Accessories to the Plan
Roam users: power is the whole game
A 1,024Wh LiFePO4 power station runs a Starlink Mini for 30+ hours (Mini averages 25–40W) and a standard dish for roughly 10–12. It’s the single purchase that makes Roam plans actually mobile — our power station comparison measured real runtimes across EcoFlow, Jackery, and Anker units.
Check Price on Amazon: 1,024Wh Power Stations
Roam vehicles: mount for wind and highway
An RV ladder mount with rubber-padded jaws installs tool-free and survives highway wind on a parked rig. If you’ll actually use in-motion service, the mount question changes completely — see the in-motion guide linked above.
Check Price on Amazon: RV Ladder Mounts
Residential users: one good permanent mount
Home users should spend their accessory budget once, on the mount. A Pipe Adapter with a galvanized ground pole clears rooflines, sheds snow naturally, and survives storms better than any roof penetration. Sizing and placement live in our ultimate mounting guide.
Check Price on Amazon: Pipe Adapter & Pole
Hardware Compatibility Quick Reference
| Hardware | Residential | Roam | In-Motion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 2 Standard | Yes | Yes (stationary) | No |
| Gen 3 Standard | Yes | Yes (stationary) | No |
| Mini | Yes | Yes (incl. portable use) | Limited (low-speed/portable) |
| Flat High Performance | Yes | Yes | Yes (Priority/Local Priority plans) |
For the full accessory-level matrix — connector sizes, mounts, power specs across all three generations — see our compatibility matrix.
Verdict: Match the Plan to Your Geography, Not Your Budget
Buy Residential if the dish will never leave one address. Buy Roam Unlimited if you travel more than two months a year and value the pause button. Buy Priority only if congestion would cost you money. Then spend the savings on the one accessory your plan actually needs — power for Roam, a mount for Residential.