Satellite broadband in the UK: providers, costs and alternatives

Starlink is the dominant option, and its lineup just changed

Starlink remains the only widely available consumer satellite broadband service in the UK with genuinely useful speeds, typically 120 to 300Mbps download in real-world use with latency around 25ms, low enough for video calls and most online gaming. Its Global Roam plan, aimed at international travel use, stopped accepting new customers on 15 July 2026 and was withdrawn entirely for existing customers on 17 August 2026; anyone who relied on it has had to migrate to a standard Roam plan or a business Priority plan, which the provider itself does not describe as an identical replacement.

The Standard Kit, a dish, Wi-Fi router, ground-level base and cables, costs £449, though it is commonly discounted to around £299 on entry and mid-tier residential plans, and offered free with a minimum-term commitment on the Residential Max plan. A £10 a month equipment fee applies on some newer residential rental orders, so check whether a specific offer is a purchase or a rental before comparing the true monthly cost. Professional installation, if needed, typically costs £225 to £350 plus VAT on top.

What affects satellite performance

The dish needs a clear, largely unobstructed view of the sky. Trees, buildings, heavy weather, network congestion at peak times and handovers between satellites can all affect consistency. Low-Earth-orbit systems like Starlink have latency far lower than older geostationary satellite services, typically 25 to 60ms against 600ms or more, but results still vary by location, time of day and weather.

Alternatives to Starlink

A handful of smaller providers exist for households that specifically want an alternative to Starlink: SkyDSL offers up to 50Mbps from roughly £35 to £50 a month on more flexible contract terms, and Bigblu Broadband offers hybrid satellite and terrestrial plans at 30 to 100Mbps. Eutelsat, which now owns OneWeb, runs a separate low-Earth-orbit constellation, but OneWeb does not sell consumer home broadband plans; its service is aimed at businesses, governments and the maritime and aviation sectors. For most UK households, Starlink remains the only satellite option with genuinely competitive speeds.

Costs to compare

Add the hardware cost or rental fee, any delivery and mounting charge, professional installation if used, and the monthly service price across a realistic period, since satellite equipment is a much larger upfront cost than a typical fixed-line router. Check whether a priority-data allowance applies on portable Roam plans and what happens to speed after it is used, and always confirm a current price directly with the provider rather than relying on an old quoted figure.

Who should consider satellite broadband

Rural homes with poor copper speeds and no realistic fibre timeline, farms, temporary sites, and anyone needing a physically independent backup connection are the clearest genuine use cases. Before committing, check the UK Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which can subsidise the cost of extending a fixed fibre connection to an eligible rural property, sometimes making full fibre more cost-effective than satellite once installation is included. For ordinary homes where FTTP is already available, fixed fibre is almost always simpler, cheaper and more consistent than satellite.