Starlink announced two major changes today including the retirement of the Global Roam plan, and a big change to their terms of service for Roam Plans that will affect boaters worldwide.
Global Roam is Gone
Global Roam for new customers is no longer available as of July 15th, 2026. Existing customers on Global Roam will need to pick a new plan before August 17th, 2026 or service will stop.
Global Roam was a $400/month unadvertised plan (not on the public pricing page, only offered as an upsell once you already had another plan active) that gave unlimited land-based data internationally, anywhere Starlink could legally operate. It was the answer to unlimited long-term international use. Global Priority is the only plan left that offers no time restriction on international use.
I don't know as many boaters that used this plan, but it was definitely a nice plan to have if you were moving between countries frequently and needed a plan to cover that.
Roam Terms of Service Change
The terms of service were changed today per the below email from Starlink to existing Roam customers. This email is specific to my account which is US-based, but others around the world have gotten similar emails with local details relevant to their location.
For existing Roam customers, these changes go into effect August 17, 2026. For new customers, these changes go into effect today.
Update to Roam Terms of Service
Beginning August 17, the international travel policy is changing. You can review the full Terms of Service here.
- Roam Unlimited: Includes 30 days of service outside your registered home country at a time. US and Canada are treated as one country, so travel between them does not count as international. After 30 days internationally, you can upgrade to a Priority plan, localize your account to a new country, or return to your home country to reset the window.
- All other Roam plans: Use anywhere within your registered home country. US and Canada are treated as one country. International use requires an upgrade to Roam Unlimited, which you can do anytime from your account. Alternatively, you can localize your account to a new country.
If you plan to travel internationally, you’ll need to complete Travel Registration.
So, at the high level, we have the following:
- Roam Unlimited - can only use it outside your home country for 30 days
- Other Roam Plans - can only be used in your home country
However, there are some additional nuances and details, so read on....
Grouped Countries
The one good piece of news in this change is that there are two groupings of countries that are considered a "home country" and movement between them is not considered "traveling internationally" according to their detailed article above:
US & Canada Countries and Territories
The following are grouped as one region for Roam travel:
- United States
- Canada
- Puerto Rico
- US Virgin Islands
- Guam
- American Samoa
- Northern Mariana Islands
European Countries
The following countries are grouped as one region for Roam travel:
- Åland Islands
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Isle of Man
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jersey
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Svalbard & Jan Mayen
- United Kingdom
It's odd that Poland isn't in the list above for Europe — it's a live Starlink market and an EU country, so there's no obvious reason for the exclusion. Cyprus, Moldova, and Monaco are missing for the same unclear reason. The Balkan gap (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia) makes more sense, since most of those countries don't have live Starlink service yet.
As a result, I don't believe that you'll need to do much when moving between these countries. It is pretty disappointing to see that Mexico isn't included with the US and Canada, as many cruisers from those three countries tend to cruise between the three.
If you are moving between countries not in the list above, or from one of the groupings above to a different country, then you are subject to the below changes in Roam Plans.
Roam Unlimited Plan Changes
As a result of this change, you'll have 30 days of service while outside your registered home country / grouping of countries. Once you hit that 30 day mark, you have three choices:
- Upgrade to a Priority Plan ($$)
- Change your plan to the country you're in (hard to do)
- Return to your home country
#3 is rather hard to do for most folks who are traveling on a boat. I suppose you could go 15 days away from your home country, maximum, and then turn around and go back within the last 15 days, then reset the timer, but it does not seem reasonable for folks who are on longer journeys or passages.
#1 - upgrade to a Priority Plan - this will be expensive depending on how much usage you require, and which flavor you choose between a Local or Global Priority Plan. Global Priority costs $250/50GB and $650/500GB per month to start with plans ranging up to 2TB, while Local Priority starts at $55/50GB and has similar tiers. Priority plans use bucketed data, not unlimited, so once you burn the 50GB/500GB block you're throttled to ~1Mbps/0.5Mbps rather than staying at full speed, which is a real behavior change from Roam's unlimited data. Global Priority also typically requires the higher end hardware (Performance / Flat High Performance) although there have been exceptions. If you want to learn more about Priority Plans, Starlink has details here.
One note about Local Priority - Starlink's own documentation says Local Priority is inland-only, not for coastal or ocean use. Worth noting that Roam's written coastal limits (5 days consecutive, 60 days a year) haven't matched my own experience using it on the water year-round with zero enforcement so far. That said, I wouldn't assume the Local Priority water restriction gets the same treatment. It's a different plan, it's newer, and Starlink could geofence or enforce it differently at any time.
#2 - changing your plan address to the country you're in - won't likely work well for boaters either. According to their official document here, it requires you cancel your account in your home country, transfer the dish to a new account/new email and provide the address where you're moving to. In addition, you can't make changes unless the dish has been activated for 90 days, and you can't make another change for an additional 90 days. If you happen to be passing through a country for 30-60 days, this could prevent you from having service during a part of that time. There was a rumor a year ago that Starlink was going to make this process easier, but it has not surfaced yet.
All Other Roam Plans
These can no longer be used anywhere but your home country / grouping. If you want to travel to another country, you have to upgrade to Roam Unlimited (keeping in mind you still have the 30 day limit) or switch your account to a local address in the country you're in. For those folks who switched or started with one of the lower data plans (100GB / 300GB) and intend on traveling internationally, these plans are no longer really an option.
Travel Registration
I covered the change with Travel Registration in my previous article on all of the changes Starlink made since May. You can find more details about it below.
Steve Mitchell
Who Does This Affect The Most?
This affects international cruisers the most, and specifically those who are not traveling between the "home country" groupings above.
An example would be the Caribbean where none of the countries are listed in those groupings, and folks are often in those areas for longer than 30 days at a time, and most likely have their plan registered in Canada or the US. There are quite a few of the smaller countries in that region that still don't have active Starlink service (some say "coming 2026") so that may be a reason they can't group them yet.
Another example would be Mexico - many folks from Canada and the US cruise there, and it is not in the grouped US+Canada country.
Why Are They Doing This?
I don't know for sure, but I suspect it's two main reasons. First, Starlink has strugged to comply with various legal requirements that different countries have when it comes to internet access. Almost every single country in the world has detailed laws and requirements for how internet access is provided. Many have councils or governing bodies that create and maintain rules, access, pricing, and control structures around how that sort of service can be provided. Some of these rules are to ensure the safety of their citizens, others are for government control, and some are just because we live in a capitalist world and someone needs to make money off of the whole thing. Complying with all of that is pretty messy and time consuming, so I can understand that Starlink is probably trying to make that easier for themselves.
And that leads me to the second reason - Starlink is a for-profit company. Their parent company SpaceX just had a massive IPO, and they aren't doing this for the good of the world. A big part of this is likely to drive more revenue and to capture that from people who are moving between countries and not paying whatever fees Starlink has to pay to that locale. Or just cuz they want more of our money 😃
What Can You Do To Help?
If you have a Roam plan and are affected, open a ticket with Starlink and ask them to re-consider this policy. As a boater, this puts your ability to stay connected when on the water and get safety and weather information at risk.
There's already a precedent for this working. Back in 2024, Starlink announced they were eliminating opt-in Priority Data for Roam users, the same data boaters relied on for coverage offshore. Days before the change was set to go live, enough people pushed back that Starlink delayed it. It wasn't a permanent reversal, but it proved they'll listen when boaters make noise.
If you do open a ticket, post a note in the comments below. If you get any interesting responses from Starlink, feel free to share those as well.
Hopefully we can at least change Starlink's mind about enforcing this when using it from a boat!