(Credit: Starlink user in Bangladesh)
Starlink’s sudden data cap may have been lifted in the US and Europe, but subscribers elsewhere say it's still in place.
“I’m still restricted, how do I resolve this?” one customer in Malaysia told PCMag after repeatedly complaining about the problem to Starlink customer support.
Initially, several subscribers in the US, along with one in Europe, told us that Starlink had suddenly removed a 5TB data cap on their monthly use. A few customers even reported that SpaceX had offered a free month of service and apologized after their internet speeds were throttled to below 10Mbps, down from the usual 100-300Mbps download rates.
But in other markets, a growing number of Starlink customers say the data cap remains in effect through their current billing cycle. Over the weekend, we noticed complaints about the problem on Reddit and in Facebook groups, including for Starlink users in Mexico, Bangladesh, and Venezuela.
“They suspended my antenna service because of this usage—500 GB over three days. Is anyone else having this problem?” wrote one customer on Facebook, an indicator that the cap can also go into effect after a few days of high usage.
Several customers started online petitions on Change.org, urging SpaceX to rescind the restriction. One of them, written in Spanish, accuses the company of violating local consumer rights by imposing the restriction without prior notice. The other focuses on users in remote areas of Indonesia, where Starlink has been the sole internet provider for local residents.
“Starlink promises ‘unlimited’ internet service, but unfortunately, the reality is far from what was advertised,” the petition says, adding: “We urge Starlink and the relevant authorities in Indonesia to respond to our demands by lifting this data cap.”
SpaceX has yet to respond to a request for comment. But in warning messages to affected customers, the company has indicated it’s cracking down because Starlink data consumption is too high, making it closer to enterprise use. To resolve the cap, the company has been encouraging affected subscribers to sign up for the more expensive Priority plans meant for businesses. Despite advertising unlimited data for the Residential plans, Starlink has long imposed a “fair use policy” that warns it can slow speeds to preserve network integrity.
In the meantime, the apparent cap has sparked debate about whether affected users went overboard with their data usage or are abusing the service. Some affected subscribers have posted screenshots showing their Starlink usage exceeding 10 TB; the average broadband subscriber in the US uses about 711GB per month.
“I contacted the person in charge of Starlink Argentina, we were on a video call and I told him that I consumed 24.5TB monthly and he laughed and told me that obviously this consumption is not normal,” wrote one user on Facebook.
A user in Bangladesh said high usage is common in their country because many people share a Starlink account due to budget constraints. “In a rural area, some people can’t afford a Starlink dish cause it’s about 50k BDT ($400). Their yearly income is 100,000 BDT, so how can they afford that?” said a user named Muhammad in an email to PCMag. In his own case, Muhammad relies on Starlink for his software development projects, which include testing AI models.
“So Starlink doesn’t tell us much about their fair policy usage. We are not clear about that,” he added while urging SpaceX to be more transparent on the exact data cap. “You can see hundreds of people have posted [on Facebook] and got no solutions.”
Another user in Bangladesh says SpaceX should have just been up-front about the data cap from the get-go. “What I find particularly frustrating is that I had already explained my intended usage before purchasing Starlink. If I had known that my speed would be significantly restricted after reaching 5TB, I would have seriously reconsidered purchasing it,” says user named Rifat, a freelancer who also shares the Starlink access to his farmworkers.
Still, one Starlink subscriber in Jamaica told PCMag that the cap actually makes sense. “I believe it is a fair restriction given the circumstances and will correct my inadvertent data usage," they told PCMag after getting throttled after hitting 10TB.
About Our Expert
I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.
Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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