SpaceX is now providing a special offer for its Starlink satellite internet service in New Zealand, cutting the monthly cost by half for those willing to accept lower internet speeds.
This discount was discovered by a Reddit user and is available under the name “Deprioritized plan” for home users.

When signing up on Starlink.com, New Zealand customers can choose between the regular plan at NZ$159 (about US$98) or opt for the reduced-rate Deprioritized plan at NZ$79 (~ US$48).
This budget-friendly plan does not impose any limitations on data or speed. However, those excessively using data may find themselves being throttled after a while.
Starlink notes that customers on this plan should anticipate download speeds ranging from 50-100Mbps, in contrast to the 150-250Mbps offered by the Standard plan.

During times of high network traffic, priority will be given to the standard service, leading to potentially slower speeds for those on the Deprioritized plan.
The Deprioritized option seems to therefore be enjoying the same prioritization as the Roam package, which can hover anywhere from 10 Mbps to 150 Mbps, depending on network congestion.
Whether or not the Deprioritized plan will eventually arrive in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and other countries is unknown at this time.
Traditionally, American tech companies use New Zealand as a test ground for validating products and services due to its identical consumption habits and purchasing power.
SpaceX’s introduction of this plan in New Zealand may be attributed to the country’s ample network capacity, as indicated on Starlink.com, where average download speeds are reported to be between 158Mbps and 266Mbps.
This is notably faster than many areas in the U.S., where speeds often fall between 38Mbps and 104Mbps.
On the other end, Starlink has been hesitant to lower prices for Starlink in the U.S., though it did reduce subscription costs last year for customers in regions with extra capacity.
Performance remains an issue in selected U.S. regions, such as many southern states, as underlined by various studies.
Outside the U.S., SpaceX frequently offers promotions, mainly across Europe, likely due to lower demand as well as the anticipated rollout of the newest antenna and router in other markets.
For example, in Germany, where I am based, Starlink hardware is currently being discounted by 50%.
And in many countries across the continent, the monthly price of the Residential package has been reduced multiple times and now hovers around US$60 (or even less).
In other news, SpaceX has recently been able to fly 24 Gen2 Mini satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time.
SpaceX CEO Musk added some more information via X, stating that “due to continued design improvements, this Falcon 9 carried its highest ever payload of 17.5 tons of useful load to a useful orbit.”
Curious what the upload speed would be with the deprioritized plans.