Starlink Canada (2026)

The speed caps are real. The 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps tiers can’t go above their named download speeds, even late at night. Starlink’s own specifications put expected downloads at 80 to 100 Mbps and 80 to 200 Mbps respectively. Residential Max has no cap and gets the highest network priority among home plans, which matters in busier areas at peak times.

Hardware depends on your address. In many areas Starlink offers the Standard dish as a $0 rental with a Residential plan; you return it if you cancel. Buying outright is still possible in some cases, and major retailers such as Best Buy Canada and Home Depot Canada sell kits. Retail Mini prices were around $349 in late summer, while Starlink’s own checkout showed the Mini lower in early fall. Check both before buying.

In late October, Starlink began telling some customers that home plan prices would be set by local network capacity and demand and reviewed roughly every quarter. Reports from the first round show changes of about 10% to 20% up or down, and some Canadian areas, including Toronto, showed roughly 10% increases. For most rural Canadians, where fewer subscribers share each satellite beam, the effect may be neutral or even favourable, but it means two cottages on the same lake could pay different prices.

Two habits protect you. First, check the price in your account at the start of each quarter so a change doesn’t surprise you on a bill. Second, if your price rises, check whether a lower tier now fits your household; many people on Residential Max use far less than its speed. For a retiree on a fixed income, budgeting around a price about 20% above your current plan is a cautious way to avoid a shortfall.

Earlier Canadian deals cut the 100 Mbps plan to $49 and then, for just three days in early May, to $39, but each one lasted only a few months before the regular price returned. The November offer, emailed to Canadians on November 5, takes 30% off Residential and Roam plans and says the reduced price stays in effect for as long as the subscription remains active. November 30 is the deadline to sign up, not the end of the discount.

Over a year, that’s a meaningful difference. On the 100 Mbps plan, 30% off saves $22.50 a month, or $270 a year before tax. On Residential Max it saves $45 a month, or $540 a year. Starlink isn’t actively promoting the offer on its Canadian site, and it’s limited to eligible areas, so the only way to know whether you qualify is to enter your address and look at the price at checkout.

The program covers a one-time rebate of up to $1,000 per household for low Earth orbit satellite hardware, installation supplies and services, and applicable taxes. Eligibility is based on federal broadband availability data, which looks for locations without high-speed internet that aren’t covered by an active broadband expansion project. The province estimates about 10,000 households fall into that group. Homeowners and renters can both apply, but only one rebate is available per household.

The rules spell out what isn’t covered: monthly subscription fees, equipment rentals, optional accessories, business connections, and purchases outside the August 11, 2026 to March 31, 2027 window. The program is open to any low Earth orbit provider that meets its minimum standards, but the province says Starlink kits are currently the ones that meet the high-speed requirements.

The practical consequence is easy to miss. If your address shows Starlink’s $0 dish rental, taking the free rental means you’d have no hardware receipt to claim. For an eligible Alberta household, buying a kit and possibly a professional installation or mount can come out cheaper overall once the rebate is paid, and you’d own the equipment. Run both options through the calculator below before ordering.

Over a year, the gap between a GST-only province and a 15% HST province is about $90 on the cheapest plan and about $180 on Residential Max. That’s worth knowing if you’re comparing Starlink with a local provider whose advertised price already includes tax, or if you’re budgeting a retirement income in Atlantic Canada.

Tax also changes how the 30% offer compares with regional providers. In Ontario, the discounted 100 Mbps plan works out to about $59.33 a month with HST, and in Quebec about $60.36 with GST and QST. Many rural fixed wireless and cellular home internet plans advertise prices before tax as well, so compare like with like: monthly price with tax, any equipment rental or purchase, installation, and whether the price is promotional or ongoing. Starlink’s November offer is unusual in that the discount continues while the plan stays active, which removes the common “price jumps after twelve months” surprise, but it doesn’t protect against Starlink’s broader location-based price reviews. When we lined up the regular and discounted prices across provinces, the after-tax spread on the cheapest plan was smaller than the gap between the offer and the regular price in any single province, so the discount matters more than where you live.

The calculator applies GST or HST for your province and Quebec’s combined GST and QST. For British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba it uses GST only, since provincial sales tax treatment of internet service varies; check your first bill. The Alberta rebate only counts purchased hardware, installation and the tax on them, capped at $1,000, and only when you choose Alberta and confirm your address is eligible. A rented dish earns no rebate, which is why the calculator shows a much lower first-year total for some Alberta households who buy instead of rent.

Try it with the defaults: Residential 100 Mbps with the 30% offer in Alberta, renting the dish. Then switch hardware to “Buy a Standard kit” and set the rebate to “Yes.” If the kit and tax fall under $1,000, the rebate wipes out the hardware cost entirely, and you own the dish instead of renting it.

Residential plans are meant for one registered service address. They include unlimited data, and in eligible areas the dish is a $0 rental. They’re the right choice for a main home that’s online every day. If you own a second property, a Residential plan at each one is usually overkill.

Roam plans work anywhere in Canada and can be paused with Standby Mode. That flexibility is what makes them the natural fit for cottages, hunting camps, RVs and boats. With the 30% offer, Roam 300 GB at $77 a month is close to the price of the regular 100 Mbps home plan, which makes it a reasonable choice even for a cottage used most weekends.

The Mini versus the Standard dish comes down to size and power. The Mini has the Wi-Fi router built in, is about the size of a laptop and can run from a vehicle’s 12-volt outlet with the right adapter. The Standard dish is larger and draws more power, but it typically performs better for a busy household and handles heavy snow better through its snow melt feature. For a fixed cottage with good power, either works; for anything that moves, the Mini is the easy pick.

The federal government has committed more than $5 billion in loans and contracts to Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation, including a $2.14 billion repayable loan, $600 million over ten years to buy capacity that rural internet providers can resell, and an Arctic military satellite contract worth about $2.3 billion announced in August. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada should diversify away from depending on Starlink. Ironically, Telesat has booked SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to launch its satellites.

For a household deciding today, the takeaway is practical rather than political. Lightspeed is designed to be sold through internet providers rather than directly to homes, and full service isn’t expected until 2027 at the earliest. Ontario’s cancelled 2025 Starlink contract and Alberta’s new rebate show provinces taking different paths. If you need internet now in a rural area, Starlink is likely your fastest option, and month-to-month service means you can switch later.

If you’re claiming the Alberta rebate, buy from Starlink or a vendor on Starlink’s authorized seller list and keep the itemized receipt. A local installer who supplies mounts and cable runs can be worth the cost in snow country, and those installation costs can count toward the rebate when they’re properly receipted.