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Residential vs Roam for a home: which Starlink plan type do you need?
Roam's freedom to move costs data, priority and, at the top tier, money. Here is when a fixed home should still pick it, and when it shouldn't.
If the dish will stay at one address, pick Residential. It’s built for a fixed home, every tier comes with unlimited data, and Residential Max outranks Roam when the network is busy. Roam earns its place at a house only if the dish will genuinely travel.
Here’s the whole comparison, built from the no-address Residential and Roam lists we read on starlink.com on Nov 4, 2026, its Service Plan Descriptions and its Specifications:
| Residential | Roam | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it works | One fixed service address | Within the US, including on the move; Roam Unlimited also abroad for up to 30 days in a row |
| Monthly price (Nov 4, 2026) | 100 Mbps $49.50, 200 Mbps $76.50, Max $143; set by address | 100GB $55, 300GB $80, Unlimited $175 |
| Data | Unlimited on all three tiers | 100 GB or 300 GB at full speed, then about 500 Kbps; Unlimited has no cap |
| Priority when congested | Max highest; 100 and 200 Mbps below Max | Below Max |
| Expected speed | 100 Mbps: 80–100 down; 200 Mbps: 80–200 down; both 15–35 up. Max: up to 400+ down, 20–40 up | 65–260 down, 15–35 up |
| Kits on the list | Standard 4 X, Standard 4, V5 | Mini, Standard, Performance |
The one rule: fixed address or moving dish
Starlink’s plan documents draw the line in one place: Roam plans allow in-motion use, and Residential service is tied to one fixed address. Everything else follows from that.
So ask one question first. Will the dish leave the property in the next year, more than once or twice? If not, Residential is the plan family built for you. If it will leave often, the choice is between putting the whole household on Roam and keeping a Residential home plan with a separate travel dish. One Starlink for home and travel prices those routes over a year.
Can a fixed home simply run on Roam? Roam is sold for use anywhere within the US, and a house is somewhere within the US. Starlink doesn’t state a separate rule for a Roam dish that never moves. In practice, what decides it is the three gaps below: price, data and priority.
Price at the Nov 4, 2026 levels
Line each Residential tier up against the Roam tier closest to it:
| Pair | Residential | Roam | Difference each month (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry tiers | 100 Mbps: $49.50 | 100GB: $55 | Roam $5.50 more |
| Middle tiers | 200 Mbps: $76.50 | 300GB: $80 | Roam $3.50 more |
| Top tiers | Max: $143 | Unlimited: $175 | Roam $32 more |
At these levels, Residential was cheaper at every step and came with unlimited data. The top pair stands out: Roam Unlimited cost $384 a year more than Max and still ranks below Max when the network is congested.
Two cautions. First, Residential prices are set address by address, and the national list moved several times in October 2026. On Oct 21 it showed $55, $85 and $130 for the three home tiers. At those levels, Roam 300GB ($80) was cheaper than Residential 200 Mbps ($85). Check both prices for your address before assuming the table holds. Second, the help center tags the two lower home tiers “(Available in select areas)”. Where they aren’t sold, the real Residential option at your address may be Max alone.
Data: unlimited vs an allowance
Residential has no data allowance. Roam 100GB and 300GB give that much full-speed data per billing cycle. After that, data keeps flowing at about 500 Kbps, and unused gigabytes don’t carry over. For scale, Netflix lists 3 Mbps for a 720p stream, six times that slowed rate.
How fast does an allowance go at a house? Our arithmetic, assuming streams run at exactly Netflix’s published rates (decimal gigabytes):
- One person watching an hour and a half of 1080p a night (5 Mbps, about 2.25 GB an hour) uses about 101 GB in 30 days. That’s all of Roam 100GB, before any other use.
- Two people each watching two hours of 4K a night (15 Mbps, about 6.75 GB an hour) use about 27 GB a night. Roam 300GB lasts about 11 days at that pace.
Video calls, game downloads and phone updates come on top. A household that streams every evening is a Residential household or a Roam Unlimited one, and at the Nov 4 levels Roam Unlimited cost more than Max.
Priority on a busy network
When many users share the network in your area, Starlink decides who slows down first. Its Service Plan Descriptions say “Roam Unlimited customers are more likely to experience Service degradation and slower speeds from congestion compared to Residential Max customers.” The order page labels Max “Highest Residential Priority”.
Starlink doesn’t state how Roam ranks against Residential 100 or 200 Mbps, so that comparison is unknown. What’s clear is narrower: if evening priority at home matters to you, Max is the plan Starlink explicitly puts ahead of Roam.
Speeds alone don’t settle it either. Roam’s expected range of 65–260 Mbps down overlaps the 200 Mbps tier’s 80–200, and both list 15–35 Mbps up. Max lists up to 400+ Mbps down and 20–40 Mbps up.
Taking a Residential dish away from home
People ask this in both directions: can a Residential customer take the dish on a trip? Starlink ties Residential service to one fixed address. Starlink’s plan documents don’t state what happens to billing or service when a Residential dish is used somewhere else, so check Starlink’s help center for the current rule before you plan around it.
Three practical limits apply either way. The house has no Starlink connection while the dish is gone. Starlink says the V5 “is not intended for in-motion use”. And a home dish runs from a wall outlet through its own power supply, which needs mains power or an inverter at the campsite. For regular trips, a separate travel dish is the cleaner setup.
Kits: what each plan type ships with
The two lists sell different hardware:
- Residential: the Standard 4 X with Router 3, and the Standard 4 and V5 with Router Mini. Each was $349 to buy on the Nov 4, 2026 list, but on that date every Residential entry was a rental, priced as a one-time $0, $99 or $199 activation plus a monthly rental charge listed at checkout. Starlink’s rental rules: an account can hold one rental, it can’t be paused, and after you cancel it has to be back with Starlink within 30 days or the full kit price is billed.
- Roam: the Mini at $149, the Standard at $349 and the Performance kit at $1,999.
Free professional installation is listed for Residential 200 Mbps and Max. The kit choice inside each list is its own decision; Starlink Mini for home use covers the most common Roam-at-home setup.
Which plan type to pick
For a house you live in all year, with a dish that stays on the roof, pick Residential and size the tier to your busiest hour. The three-way home plan comparison does that.
For a household with no fixed home, pick Roam. The data allowance decides the tier.
For a household that lives in one place and travels often, compare a Residential plan plus a travel Mini against all-Roam. At the Nov 4 levels the first usually wins on data and priority at home.
Still unsure which family you’re in? The chooser asks whether you’re home, travel or both first, and the plans page shows all six US plans in one table.
When Roam is the wrong plan for a house
Roam at a fixed address looks flexible on paper. It’s the wrong pick when:
- The household streams most evenings. In the allowance math above, one person’s evening HD uses up Roam 100GB and two 4K viewers finish Roam 300GB in under two weeks. That pushes you to Roam Unlimited, the priciest plan on the Nov 4 lists.
- You’re buying freedom you won’t use. If the dish hasn’t left the roof in a year, you’ve paid Roam prices and taken Roam’s lower priority for nothing.
- Off-season pausing is the main attraction. That describes a part-time home, not a main one, and this guide doesn’t recommend choosing a plan around months you’ll be away.
- You expect Roam Unlimited to match Max at busy times. Starlink says Roam Unlimited customers are more likely to slow down from congestion than Max customers.
Otherwise, the one rule above settles the plan family, and the price at your address settles the rest.
Questions
Can I use a Starlink Roam plan at home?
Yes, Roam works anywhere within the US, a house included. The trade-offs are the data caps on Roam 100GB and 300GB and lower priority than Residential Max when the network is congested.
Is Roam faster than Residential?
Not as a rule. Starlink expects Roam to deliver 65–260 Mbps down, Residential 200 Mbps 80–200 Mbps and Max up to 400+ Mbps; at busy times, priority matters more than the range.
Which is cheaper for a house, Residential or Roam?
At Starlink's Nov 4, 2026 national levels, each Residential tier cost less than the Roam tier closest to it and came with unlimited data. Residential prices are set by address, so check yours.
Does Roam work as well as Residential on a busy evening?
Not at the top end. Starlink's Service Plan Descriptions say Roam Unlimited customers are more likely to see slower speeds from congestion than Residential Max customers, and Starlink doesn't publish how Roam ranks against the lower home tiers.
Does Roam have a data cap?
Roam 100GB and 300GB give that much full-speed data per billing cycle, then about 500 Kbps. Roam Unlimited has no cap.
Sources and checks
Every price and rule on this page was checked against these sources; the oldest check is . Prices move, so starlink.com at your address is always the final word.
- Help center: the referral program (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- starlink.com order-page code (our reading) (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- starlink.com Residential order page (US, no address) (seen Nov 4, 2026)
- US referral terms, version of Oct 7, 2026 (seen Nov 4, 2026)
- Starlink Service Plan Descriptions (US, DOC-1728-44881-79) (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- starlink.com Residential plans (US national list, read Nov 4, 2026, no address) (seen Nov 4, 2026)
- starlink.com Roam plans (US national list, read Nov 4, 2026, no address) (seen Nov 4, 2026)
- Starlink Specifications document, US (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- Starlink help center: Residential tiers (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- Starlink help center: renting a kit (seen Nov 3, 2026)
- Starlink help center: V4 compared with V5 (seen Nov 4, 2026)
- Netflix help: internet speed recommendations (seen Nov 4, 2026)