Demand surcharge reported at $1,000 in parts of Washington, Oregon and Idaho

What changed

On July 2, 2025, press reports said Starlink’s one-time demand surcharge had reached $1,000 for new Residential sign-ups at some addresses in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. On June 23, 2025, the figure reported for Seattle, Portland, Spokane and Coeur d’Alene had been $750 (our June post).

Item	Before (Jun 23, 2025)	After (Jul 2, 2025)	Change
One-time surcharge, high-demand PNW addresses	$750	$1,000	+$250, once

The report described the reason shown at checkout as “high demand in your area.” Starlink’s support page frames the surcharge as a way to manage new sign-ups where a cell is crowded.

Who it affected

• New Residential orders at addresses Starlink flags as high-demand in parts of those three states.
• Existing customers who don’t move or change plan were not charged. Starlink’s support page lists buying, activating, changing plan and moving into a high-demand area as the triggers.
• Neighbors could see different offers; the report said the criteria were not published.

What it did to the cost

Everything lands in the first bill. Compared with the $750 level, year 1 rose by $250; compared with an address with no surcharge, by $1,000. Over three years, $1,000 works out to about $27.78 a month on top of the plan.

A worked example: a bought kit plus 12 months of Residential 100 Mbps is the kit price plus 12 × the plan price; a $1,000 surcharge raises that year-1 total by $1,000 and the 3-year total by the same $1,000. Run your own path in the calculator.

One cost note from the report needs care: it quoted a $599 kit in its total, while our records and other coverage from the period list the Standard kit at $349. We do not repeat the report’s total for that reason.

What stayed the same

• Monthly plan prices did not change in this report.
• The surcharge stayed one-time, not monthly.
• Starlink’s support page says the surcharge is refunded with a return inside the 30-day window.

What to check yourself

• Read the full checkout total for your exact address before paying; the surcharge is only shown there.
• If a surcharge appears, compare the rent-vs-buy paths: the surcharge applies either way, but rental changes how much you have paid up front if you cancel early.
• Use the before-you-order checklist to note the 30-day return date.

What we don’t know

• Whether the $1,000 level applied to every high-demand address in those states or only some cells.
• How long the $1,000 level lasted. A later satelliteinternet.com explainer says Pacific Northwest surcharges “dropped to $500,” but gives no date for the change, so we have not logged one.
• We could not open a July 2025 capture of the checkout ourselves; the figure is as reported.