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I recently picked up a Starlink Mini to use as a backup connection for my home network. With the new £4.50 standby plan, it's a great way to keep things online if my FTTP connection fails.
My primary FTTP connection is generally excellent offering 5ms latency at best, having a backup; something that is reliant on a string of satelites 600Km above the earth is just fascinating to me.
Enter Starlink Mini#
Starlink Mini is SpaceX's compact satellite dish. It's portable and for this use case - it can be put into 'Standby Mode' for just £4.50 per month.
The £4.50 Standby Plan#
In August 2025, Starlink replaced their free 'Pause Mode' with a paid 'Standby Mode'. It's pretty reasonable:
You can restart full bandwidth service whenever you need it
You get unlimited low-speed data (500kbps) in standby - enough bandwidth for apps such as Google Meet, FaceTime, Claude, and even low quality Netflix.
It's cheaper than most mobile data plans you could use as a backup
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