How Long is the Waitlist for Starlink? [2023] (Estimates)

How long do you have to wait to get your hands on a Starlink dish?

Well, it depends on your location (service address) and the type of Starlink internet plan you want.

According to Starlink's official communication, there's a waitlist until 2023 for new orders of Starlink residential in some mid-west and southern states in the USA. For most other states in the USA, there's no waitlist and you can get Starlink within 2 weeks of ordering.

Starlink Plan	Waitlist
Residential	2023 (ETA) in some states (mid-west and Southern states) of the USA. One to eight weeks for most other states.
RV	No Waitlist
Business	2023 (ETA) in some states (mid-west and Southern states) of the USA. One to eight weeks for most other states.

How long is the Waitlist for Starlink Residential?

Official estimates put the availability of Starlink for the areas that have a waitlist as being obtainable within one to eight weeks

Here's what the historical data shows.

• Most customers who pre-ordered in 2021 got their hands on a Starlink by Mid 2022.
• Starlink ETA that you get at the time of pre-order has been relatively accurate.

Once you get close to your estimated time of availability, Starlink will tell you the exact month when you'll get Starlink.

If you live in an area that does not have a waitlist, you can expect to get your Starlink within 2 weeks of your order.

Read this to know which area you fall into-Is Starlink Available in My Area?

How many people are on the Starlink waitlist?

The exact number of people on the Starlink waitlist is not publicly known.

However, according to Starlink's disclosure in May 2021, around half a million (500,000) people signed up to be on the waitlist between Feb 2021 and May 2021.

By June 2022, Starlink had around 500,000 customers who were using Starlink.

A lot of rural internet users jumped onto the Starlink waitlist as their other satellite internet options were really poor.

Most other services had abysmal speeds and very limited data caps while Starlink has a relatively large data cap of 1 TB.

This huge influx of users led to a lot of states (midwest and southern) being marked as low-capacity areas without immediate availability by Starlink.

Things to Remember when Pre-ordering Starlink

Choose your service address carefully while making the order using the exact plus code of your location.

The Starlink availability map that you see visually is only indicative (approximation) and the exact availability can be known only after you input the exact plus code of your location.

Changing the service address after you make the pre-order can put in you a different cell and could potentially reset your position in the waitlist queue.

The expected delivery of your Starlink can vary wildly even if you move the location by a few miles.

Also, watch out for the mail from Starlink that comes when your Starlink becomes available.

Starlink gives you a week to pay for the gear and if you don't do it within that period, your order gets canceled.

This further delay in the shipping of Starlink kits has caused several users to look at other options such as 5G home internet.

Is there any way to skip the Starlink waitlist?

Option 1: Get Starlink RV

Starlink RV is the alternative if you don't want to wait for several months to get your Starlink residential.

The advantages of Starlink RV are that it's available for immediate order and that it can be paused whenever you want.

The disadvantage is that during periods of congestion (peak hours), you get a lower priority (best-effort service) compared to Starlink residential users in your location.

Option 2: Get a Used Starlink

Starlink doesn't restrict the selling and buying of Starlink dishes.

If you can find someone who is looking to sell their Starlink residential in your area, then you can bypass the waitlist.

Several users have done this successfully.

Option 3: Use a different service address (Risky)

If you have a location a few miles away from you where Starlink is available for immediate order, then you can give a random address in that area to get Starlink immediately.

The shipping address can be different from your service address, which means you can get the Starlink delivered to your correct address without any problem.

A disadvantage to this option is that you will be treated as a portability customer at your actual address.

This means you'll get a lower priority if there's network congestion.

There's also another potential issue with this option.

According to Starlink, portability is a temporary feature and not meant to be used indefinitely although they do not specify an exact timeframe for this.

Starlink could bring out a time limit for this in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What does Waitlist mean on Starlink?

Customers who pre-order by paying the deposit fee are put on a waitlist by Starlink. This applies to those users who are booking Starlink from areas in the USA that are at their capacity. Starlink will convert these pre-orders into a full orders based on this waitlist queue.

Will Starlink work in a waitlist area?

Starlink will work in a waitlist area if you already have your Starlink with you. This applies to residential, portability, and RV customers. Starlink portability and RV customers might see lower speeds in these waitlist areas due to Starlink not having enough capacity and them being deprioritized over residential users.

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