Compare What You’ll Actually Live With
Sticker price isn’t the real price. Download speed isn’t the whole story. Pick a Further Reach plan and see what a year actually costs.
True Cost
$200Professional installation by a local team. Everything included — equipment, router, configuration.
$283$49 install + $20 shipping + $4 tax + ~$210 in accessories (roof mount, longer cable, cable routing, ethernet switch)
$2/mo — 7 wattsYour power bill won’t even notice it
$20/mo — 75 watts running nonstopThat adds up — $240/year just to keep the dish on
$0 — storms, lightning, salt air, power surges all coveredGear proactively replaced every ~3 years, often with upgrades
~$10/mo averaged$349 kit, not covered for weather damage. ~3-year coastal lifespan = ~$116/yr. Storm fries your dish? That’s on you.
Speed & Performance
25–70 MbpsEveryday browsing, streaming, and video calls run at the upper end. Larger downloads settle toward the lower end. Consistent rain or shine.
30–100 MbpsHigher ceiling on paper.⚠ Speeds drop up to 50% in heavy rain and during peak congestion. On the Mendocino Coast, that’s not a rare event — it’s winter.
25–70 Mbps — same as download, alwaysSymmetric speeds. Critical for video calls, cloud backup, working from home.
10–15 MbpsUpload is an afterthought. Hope you don’t need to send large files or do video calls.
10–20 msVideo calls feel natural. Pages load instantly.
25–50 ms, spikes higherSatellite handoffs cause brief dropouts — disruptive for video calls and remote work
Stable — fixed tower, no handoffs, no dropouts
Brief dropouts during satellite handoffs. Heavy rain causes 30–50% speed drops.
We don’t slow you down. Period.
Deprioritized during peak hours — right when you need it most
Support
Call, text, or email. A real local person answers.No portals. No chatbots. No tickets. Often immediate — never more than an hour.
Support ticket through app or website.72-hour typical response. Limited phone line for outages only, weekdays 6AM–6PM CT.
We diagnose and fix them — remotely first, then a local tech in your home if needed.
Not supported. Starlink troubleshoots their equipment only — your router, mesh, and WiFi are your problem.
Professional installation by a local team with a decade of coastal experience. Router included and configured.
Self-install. Self-configure. Self-troubleshoot.Plus ~$210 in accessories for a proper roof mount.
Power & Storms
7 wattsA basic battery backup keeps you online for a full day or more during outages.
75 wattsA UPS lasts 1–2 hours. For multi-day coastal outages, you need a generator.
Replaced free — storms, lightning, surges, salt air all covered.Gear proactively replaced every ~3 years, often with upgrades.
Not covered. Customer pays $349 to replace.Warranty explicitly excludes fire, flood, wind, lightning, earthquake, and weather. On the Mendocino Coast.
Other Things That Matter
We don’t sell, share, or monetize your data. Period.
January 2026 policy change: Starlink now shares your personal data with third parties for their own purposes — and you’re opted in by default. You have to find and change the setting yourself.
Locally owned. Discounted service for those in need, free service to nonprofits, free public hotspots.
No local presence, no community investment.
Speeds going up. Prices flat or down.
Terms trending worse — throttling introduced, deprioritization expanded, rental model, prices up.
Sources & Methodology
Starlink pricing from starlink.com for Mendocino County, CA (March 2026), standard non-promotional rates. Starlink currently offers $11/mo off for 6 months through 3/31/2026 — even with this, Further Reach comes out ahead Year 1 for all matchups.
Speed ranges from Ookla Speedtest data including peak-hour deprioritization. Electricity at PG&E Tier 2 rates ($0.35–0.45/kWh). Starlink Standard ~75W; Max ~100W; FR CPE ~7W.
Equipment replacement: $349 kit, ~3-year coastal lifespan. Warranty excludes weather/acts of nature. Accessories ~$210: pivot mount ($60), 150ft cable ($95), cable routing ($32–46), ethernet switch ($25).
Privacy policy updated Jan 15, 2026 — third-party sharing opted in by default.