Switching from HughesNet to Starlink, step by step

The switch at a glance

Two rules keep the switch safe. Keep HughesNet running until Starlink has proved itself on busy evenings. And if you have a HughesNet phone line, move the number before you cancel anything. Want every date worked out for you? The switch planner turns your delivery date into a calendar.

What does leaving HughesNet cost, and will Starlink see your sky?

Two checks come before any order. Under HughesNet’s published fee rules (read Nov 3, 2026) for customers who subscribed on or after July 8, 2025, leaving early costs up to $400, falling by $15 for each month of service after the first 90 days. And Starlink needs a much wider patch of open sky than the HughesNet dish ever did, so run the Starlink app’s sky scan there first.

1. Find what leaving HughesNet costs this month

   10 minutes

   HughesNet plans run 24 months (Select, Elite and Fusion) or 12 months (Lite). Leave early and HughesNet charges an early termination fee, which it calls a Service Termination Fee: the full $400 if you cancel in the first 90 days after activation, then $15 less for each month of service ($30 a month on Lite). Once your term is over, there’s no fee.

   Work out your fee with our calculator: put in the month your service started, and it shows the fee range for this month and how much each month of waiting saves. Your first HughesNet bill shows the start date, or HughesNet can tell you.

   Older contracts: HughesNet’s current fee page covers customers who subscribed on or after July 8, 2025. For earlier sign-ups: customers who signed up between Dec 19, 2023 and July 7, 2025 have a 24-month term on every plan, with the same $400 fee in the first 90 days falling $15 a month after that; earlier customers have their own terms on legal.hughesnet.com.

1. Check the sky where the Starlink dish would go

   15 minutes

   Your HughesNet dish needs an open line of sight to the southern sky, because the dish points at one satellite parked over the equator. Starlink works differently: it talks to many low satellites moving across the sky, so it needs a wide view. Its dish has a 110° field of view. Starlink wants as much open sky as it can get, though a dish with part of its view blocked often still works. Even so, trees the HughesNet dish shot past can cause dropouts.

   Before you pay anything, get the Starlink app on your phone. The Starlink app helps you pick an install spot and check for obstructions that could interfere with service. Check the exact spot where you would mount the dish, not just the middle of the yard. The roof peak, or a pole above the tree line, usually sees more sky than the wall where the HughesNet dish sits.

   If the app shows obstructions at every spot you could use, stop here: HughesNet may be the better service at your home. How to check your spot

Is Starlink worth it over HughesNet?

For speed and lag, the gap is large. Lag (latency) is the pause before anything starts to load. It’s what freezes video calls and makes online games unplayable on HughesNet. Hughes itself told the bankruptcy court that its satellites add a round-trip delay of about 600 ms.

Uploads matter for video calls and sending photos: Ookla measured 21.46 Mbps for Starlink and 4.1 Mbps for HughesNet. And data: HughesNet gives each plan a monthly amount of Priority Data, while Starlink lists unlimited data on every Residential plan. More on that below.

Price is closer. HughesNet advertises plans from $39.99/mo for the first 12 months. For Starlink, US Residential prices vary by region, and starlink.com hides Residential prices until you type in an address. Full side-by-side comparison · Every cost of switching, added up

How do you order, set up and test with HughesNet still on?

1. Order Starlink on starlink.com

   5 minutes

   Start with your service address. Prices are set by address: US Residential prices vary by region, and starlink.com hides Residential prices until you type in an address.

   Pick a plan, then the kit. You can buy it for $349 or, where offered, rent it. A rental costs a one-time $0, $99 or $199 set by address and plan (the $99 adds professional installation; the $199 is a rental kit that includes it).

   Starlink service is month-to-month with no long-term contract (some offers excepted), so read the order summary before paying: it shows today’s total, the monthly price and any commitment.

   Shipping: Starlink shows an estimated shipping timeline on your order page (account or app) and says it will tell you if it changes; it publishes no typical number of days to ship. Delivery then takes 3 to 7 days in the US after it ships (Starlink's average-to-maximum). Every order screen, explained

starlink.com

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1. Set it up next to HughesNet

   about an hour

   Leave HughesNet 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. Use the kickstand at a spot that passed your sky check before you drill any holes.

   Set up soon after delivery, because Starlink’s billing clock starts early: your first service charge lands on the earliest of three dates: activation day, the 7th day after delivery, or the 30th day after shipping when no delivery date is recorded (Starlink calls this the 'Payment Due Date').

   While both run, give the Starlink Wi-Fi its own name so you always know which network you’re testing. On the day you cancel HughesNet, rename it to your old network name and password, and most devices reconnect by themselves. Setup guide

2. Test both services on busy evenings

   1–2 weeks

   Starlink’s busiest hours are 6 pm to 11 pm local time, and HughesNet is busy then too. On at least three evenings, run a speed test on each service around 8 p.m., with the same device in the same room. Note the download, the upload and the ping (lag).

   Then do what your household actually does: a video call, an evening of streaming, a game, a big upload. Count the dropouts, not just the speed.

   Do this early. 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. If trees turn out to block too much sky, that’s your way out. Sending a rented kit back inside 30 days of your Payment Due Date refunds its activation price, not a kit price, but Starlink’s rental article adds a shorter rule: if you change your mind about a rental, the kit has to go back in good shape no later than 7 days after it arrives. If you rent, do your tests in the first week.

In what order should you leave HughesNet?

Phone number first, cancellation second, equipment last. HughesNet’s terms (read Nov 3, 2026) tie HughesNet Voice to the internet account, so cancelling ends both, and a number that isn’t ported first can be lost. Cancel only after Starlink has passed your evening tests, write down the confirmation details from the call, then send back the modem and radio within 45 days to avoid the unreturned-equipment charge.

1. Move your HughesNet Voice number first

   before you cancel

   Skip this step if you don’t have HughesNet Voice. If you do: cancelling Hughesnet internet also cancels Hughesnet Voice, and both termination fees can apply. Close the internet account first and the number can go with it.

   Starlink won’t take the number over: no Starlink Residential plan includes home phone or voice service; Starlink sells internet service. So choose a new phone service first, either a mobile carrier or a home VoIP service that runs over Starlink. Then:

   • Start the port with the new phone company and give it your 10-digit number. To take a Hughesnet Voice number elsewhere, the new provider submits the port request.
   • Keep HughesNet until the move is done. The FCC’s advice: keep your old phone service until the new company has started moving your number.
   • 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, but you still owe what you owe. Voice has its own early termination fee of up to $240.
   • If you choose VoIP: for 911 to work, give your VoIP provider your exact street address and update it if you move.

   Keeping your phone number, step by step

1. Call HughesNet to cancel

   20–40 minutes

   How: call the Hughes Billing Department; the agreement also allows cancelling by written notice. The number is 1-866-347-3292. We found no online cancel button.

   What to say: “I’d like to cancel my HughesNet internet service as of [date]. Please tell me my final termination fee and send me a return kit for the equipment.”

   Expect an offer to stay, such as a lower price or a different plan. You can say no and repeat your date. Before you hang up, write down the date and time, the rep’s name, the confirmation number, the fee quoted and when the final bill comes. The full cancel guide

2. Send back the modem and radio

   within 45 days

   What goes back: the leased modem and its power supply and the satellite radio; Fusion customers also return the multipath device, its power supply and the wireless antenna, plus any leased mesh Wi-Fi nodes. You can leave the rest: the outdoor antenna (dish), its mount and the cables don't have to go back. No equipment has to go back if you bought it.

   How: Hughes sends de-install and return instructions, and the parts go back in a Hughes return box with a prepaid label inside. Photograph every part before it goes in the box, and keep the shipping receipt and tracking number.

   Deadline: within 45 days of your cancel date. Miss it and HughesNet charges $300 ($500 on Fusion), plus $50 for each leased mesh Wi-Fi node. Return checklist

Can you reuse your HughesNet mount for Starlink?

Sometimes. The HughesNet dish, mount and cables don’t have to go back, so the old pole or bracket is still yours. If it’s a round pole at a spot that passed your sky check, a Starlink pipe adapter may fit it. Starlink sells a range of mounts in its online shop (once your kit is ready to ship), and the Standard kit comes with a detachable kickstand for quick setup or a permanent install. Check the pole’s width against the adapter before you count on it. Many HughesNet dishes sit low on a south wall, where the house itself blocks the northern sky Starlink needs, so a higher spot is often the better choice. Old dish spot or new spot?

Will you still need data tokens? Priority Data vs unlimited data

On HughesNet, each plan has a monthly amount of Priority Data; after it runs out you keep unlimited Standard Data, which may be slower than other traffic at busy times. Plans include 100 GB of Priority Data a month on Lite and Select, 200 GB on Elite and Fusion (as reported by SatelliteInternet.com; HughesNet shows yours only for your address).

Use between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. doesn't count against Priority Data, and video streams at up to 480p (“DVD quality”) under the Video Data Saver. That’s why so many HughesNet homes buy data tokens, or save big downloads and updates for the middle of the night.

Starlink lists unlimited data on every Residential plan: no tokens and no night-time window. It isn’t unlimited speed, though: speeds can slow during network congestion and peak hours, Residential 100 and 200 Mbps slow down sooner than Residential Max, and Starlink may cut the speed of households that use far more than a typical home. That’s why the evening tests above matter.

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