Replacing DSL with Starlink

Is Starlink faster and steadier than DSL?

Faster, almost always. In the FCC's latest Measuring Broadband America fixed report (data from September–October 2022), the average advertised DSL download speed was 31 Mbps, against 483 Mbps for cable and 586 Mbps for fiber. Starlink users measured a median of 127.39 Mbps down and 21.46 Mbps up in Ookla’s US data for Q1 2026. Those are different kinds of numbers (what DSL companies advertised, and what Starlink users actually measured), so the best yardstick is your own line: run a speed test at 8 p.m. and compare it with your plan.

Lag is a closer race. Lag (latency) is the delay before anything starts to load, the thing that makes video calls stutter. DSL latency is low (about 23–34 ms idle across DSL providers in the FCC's 2022 measurements), even when speed is not. Starlink’s median in Ookla’s data was 39 ms, and Starlink says that in June 2025 its US median latency at peak hours was 25.7 ms, and under 1% of US readings topped 55 ms. Both are fine for video calls and most online games. This is very different from HughesNet or Viasat, whose satellites are much farther away (why old satellite internet lags).

Steadier depends on your house. DSL doesn’t care about trees or sky. Its weak spots are the copper itself: storm damage, water in old cables and copper theft, with repairs that readers in forums describe taking weeks. Starlink needs a wide patch of open sky: Starlink wants as much open sky as it can get, though a dish with part of its view blocked often still works, and a downpour, heavy snow or hail may drop the connection for a short spell, and service should return when the weather clears.

Is your DSL company retiring its copper?

Most phone companies are moving customers off copper, area by area, and a 2026 FCC rule lets them do it faster (the rule in plain words). Phone companies no longer file copper retirement notices with the FCC; they post them on their own websites or in industry publications, so the FCC site is no longer a complete list, which is why the links below go to each company’s own pages. Your letter, not a state-wide date, tells you when your line ends.

AT&T

AT&T no longer sells DSL; existing DSL lines continue only until AT&T retires the copper in that area. AT&T plans to end copper-based services in half of its wire centers outside California by the end of 2027 and in substantially all of them by the end of 2029. Press reports put the next round on or after November 15, 2026, in the parts of about 1,060 wire centers in 18 states covered by AT&T's January 2026 FCC approval (about 90,000 customers in AL, AR, FL, GA, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX and WI); the letter at each address gives that address's date. What AT&T is doing, and every option, step by step

Frontier (now Verizon)

Verizon completed its purchase of Frontier on January 20, 2026. Verizon is retiring Frontier's copper: its 2026 notices cover all remaining copper locations in listed Frontier wire centers in 16 states, and Verizon says it will discontinue the services on that copper (DSL included) first and may move customers off well before the date. Next dates in Verizon’s notices: on or after November 6, 2026 in listed Frontier wire centers in Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, and on or after December 10, 2026 in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah. Check the list at Verizon’s network disclosures page.

CenturyLink (Lumen)

CenturyLink (Lumen) still serves DSL over copper: Lumen kept its copper consumer business when it sold its consumer fiber business (Quantum Fiber) in 11 states to AT&T, a sale that closed on February 2, 2026. CenturyLink has posted 110 copper retirement notices dated 2026 (through October 21), each for listed addresses; its notices say no replacement facilities have been deployed at those addresses. Look up your address in CenturyLink’s network disclosures.

Brightspeed

Brightspeed (the former CenturyLink phone company in 20 states) is building fiber but still serves millions of homes over copper; we could not confirm whether it still sells DSL to new customers or has 2026 copper shutdown filings. If Brightspeed has offered you fiber, that is usually the better upgrade.

Kinetic (Windstream)

Kinetic (Windstream, now part of Uniti) still provides DSL where it hasn't built fiber, with no annual contracts. We found no Kinetic copper shutdown notice. If Kinetic fiber reaches your road, compare it before anything else.

Consolidated (now Fidium)

Consolidated Communications is now Fidium and is replacing copper with fiber; in August 2026 it asked the FCC to discontinue legacy service in parts of eight states (more than 790,000 passings, mostly in Maine and New Hampshire), with shutoffs planned from September to November 2026. Fidium told regulators it would offer phone service over fiber; ask whether fiber reaches your address before you look elsewhere.

Should you wait for fiber or cable instead?

Often, yes. A wired fiber or cable line that works is cheaper and steadier than any satellite service. Before you replace DSL with anything:

1. Look up your address on the FCC National Broadband Map. It lists the providers that say they serve your location, wired and wireless.
2. Ask about funded builds. Many states are paying for fiber to reach rural homes under the federal BEAD program. Your state broadband office lists the areas and companies; the company building it can tell you when it expects to reach your road.
3. Get a date in writing. “Fiber is coming” from a neighbor isn’t a date. An email from the fiber company is.

If cable or fiber is due at your address within about a year, our advice is to wait. Keep the DSL while it still works. If your copper is being shut off before then, pick the cheapest replacement that works at your house for now, such as 5G home internet, and compare again when the wired line arrives.

Other ways to replace DSL

• 5G home internet from T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T Internet Air. Where the signal is strong it usually costs less than Starlink: T-Mobile’s cheapest plan is $50/mo with AutoPay, Verizon 5G Home is $60/mo before discounts, and Internet Air starts at $55/mo. Each needs a good signal at your exact address. Compare: T-Mobile vs Starlink, Verizon vs Starlink, Internet Air vs Starlink.
• A local wireless internet company (a WISP): a small antenna on your house aimed at the company’s tower. Many rural co-ops and local firms run these. They show up on the FCC map as “licensed” or “unlicensed fixed wireless”. Ask for evening speeds from a neighbor who has it.
• Cable or fiber, if it reaches you: usually the best choice of all.
• HughesNet or Viasat satellite. They reach almost anywhere with a view of the southern sky, but their lag is far higher (674 ms median for HughesNet in Ookla’s data) and their plans manage data more tightly.

How to replace DSL with Starlink, step by step

1. Check your sky view first

   15 minutes

   The Starlink app helps you pick an install spot and check for obstructions that could interfere with service. Install the free Starlink app on your phone and check the spots where you could put a dish: a roof peak, a pole, an open patch of yard. A spot that looks open at eye level can still be blocked higher up. How to check your spot

2. Read your DSL bill

   10 minutes

   Look for three things:

   • A term or early termination fee. DSL is usually month-to-month: Kinetic has no annual contracts, CenturyLink sells month-to-month service, and AT&T's current home internet plans have no term or early termination fee. An older promotional plan can still carry a fee, so check.
   • A leased modem. AT&T's fee schedule lists no unreturned-equipment fee for AT&T DSL, because DSL modems were bought rather than leased; check your bill if AT&T sent you a leased gateway. Other companies: look for an equipment or modem line on the bill.
   • A phone line or bundle. If your bill includes home phone, the number needs a new home before the DSL ends (next step).

3. Choose where your phone number will go

   20 minutes

   No Starlink Residential plan includes home phone or voice service; Starlink sells internet service. Your options are a VoIP home phone service that works over Starlink, your mobile carrier, or (for AT&T copper customers) AT&T Phone - Advanced. Pick one now, but don’t start the move yet. Compare the options

4. Order Starlink

   5 minutes

   On starlink.com, enter your address first: US Residential prices vary by region and starlink.com hides Residential prices until you type in an address. Then choose a plan and buy or rent the kit. Starlink says only some areas can get the 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps Residential plans. Every order screen, explained

5. Set up Starlink next to the DSL

   day 1

   Keep the DSL plugged in. Pick a spot with open sky, plug in, and the dish finds satellites in a few minutes; current kits don't point themselves, so you rotate the dish the way the Starlink app's alignment screen tells you. Give the Starlink Wi-Fi the same name and password as your DSL Wi-Fi when you’re ready to move over, and most devices reconnect on their own. Day-one setup

6. Test both at 8 p.m.

   3+ evenings

   Starlink names its peak hours as 6 pm to 11 pm local time. Run a speed test on each service in that window, on several evenings, with the same device in the same room. Try a video call too. If Starlink doesn’t work at your home, a kit bought on starlink.com and sent back undamaged inside 30 days of your Payment Due Date earns a full refund, first month's fee included, so don’t leave the testing for later.

7. Move your phone number

   a few days

   Start the port with the new phone company and give it your 10-digit number. Keep your old phone service until the new company has started moving your number. Expect the DSL to stop when the number leaves: on many lines the internet rides on the phone line. That’s fine now, because Starlink is already running.

8. Cancel the DSL and return any leased modem

   30 minutes

   Once the number works on its new service, call the DSL company to cancel whatever is left. Note the date, the rep’s name and a confirmation number, and ask when the final bill comes and whether any equipment must go back. Returning old equipment

Want the dates worked out for you? The switch planner turns your delivery date into a dated checklist.

Your home phone shares the copper: move the number first

On most DSL lines the phone number and the internet come in on the same copper pair. That causes the classic DSL-switch mistake: cancelling the line before the number has moved, and losing a number the household has had for decades.

• Starlink can’t take the number. No Starlink Residential plan includes home phone or voice service; Starlink sells internet service. The number moves to a VoIP service (a small adapter plugs your home phone into the router), a mobile carrier, or AT&T Phone - Advanced.
• Owing money doesn’t block the move. Per the FCC, once you've asked a new company for service, the old company can't refuse to port your number, even if you owe a balance or a termination fee. You still owe what you owe.
• Check the devices on the line. Alarm panels, medical alert units and fax machines often dial over the landline. Ask each company how its device will connect after the switch, before the port.
• 911 and power cuts. For 911 to work, give your VoIP provider your exact street address and update it if you move. VoIP phone service may not work in a power outage or when the internet is down, and Starlink needs power too, so consider a battery backup and keep a charged cell phone.

Full walk-through, including HughesNet and Viasat phone lines: keeping your home phone number.

Gaming, cameras and port forwarding on Starlink

One real catch for some DSL households: Residential gets IPv4 through CGNAT, so no public IPv4 address and no inbound IPv4 connections (a public IPv4 is offered only on Local and Global Priority plans), while native IPv6 works on every plan. In plain words, your Starlink connection shares a public internet address with other customers (CGNAT), and Starlink’s own routers don’t do port forwarding.

What still works: anything that connects outward, which is almost everything a home does: streaming, video calls, online games, most work VPNs, and cameras or doorbells that use the maker’s app.

What may not: hosting a game server for friends, reaching a camera recorder or file server at home by its address, and remote-desktop setups that wait for an incoming connection. These can often work over IPv6 with your own router, or through a relay service. If you rely on one of them today, test it in your first week.

Checking method: each price, fee and rule here links to the provider’s or regulator’s own page, dated the day we read it. No internet provider pays for a place on this site; the only income is the Starlink referral explained on our money page. Our fact-checking · How we make money · Corrections