Starlink Is Helping Keep Rural K-12 Schools Connected

Schools Can’t Function Without Highly Reliable Internet

There was a time when educators could work around an outage. Teachers took attendance on paper, offices logged visitors by hand and instruction could continue offline.

For rural schools, the challenge starts even earlier. Some simply aren’t served by the last mile of cable. There is no fiber. There is no high-speed terrestrial option. And when the internet goes down, there isn’t another provider to call.

Historically, schools in these situations wouldn’t have a high-speed cable option; turning to microwave or satellite is the only way.

This can help, but it’s not perfect. Microwave equipment can be affected by environmental conditions. We’ve seen districts lose connectivity year after year because of ice buildup on dishes. Cellular failover can disappear during storms when towers go down. And traditional satellite services have long struggled with latency, making cloud-based tools frustrating to use.

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Starlink’s Satellite Network Delivers Connectivity

Starlink is being used in two very specific ways.

For some districts, it is the only viable option for primary connectivity, as they are not served by cable and cellular is unavailable or unreliable. In other districts, it serves as a reliable failover connection when their primary service experiences an outage.

It’s important to be clear about where Starlink fits and where it doesn’t. We wouldn’t recommend it in dense urban environments or places already well served by fiber and cellular networks. It requires a broad, clear line of sight to the sky, and network saturation can be an issue in metropolitan areas.

But for rural districts, remote campuses and geographically complex schools, it can provide a level of reliability that was previously unavailable.

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How Starlink Functions Differently From Traditional Satellite

Many people associate satellite internet with slow speeds and high latency. Starlink is different because it operates as a low Earth orbit satellite network, which generally reduces latency compared with older, higher-orbit systems.

Starlink also routes traffic across satellites in its network, rather than relying solely on ground-based handoffs. For schools using cloud-based learning tools, that difference shows up quickly in day-to-day use.

Starlink is also taking steps to future proof its network. For example, the company recently announced network enhancements for 2026 that will enable Gigabit speeds in remote areas using kits, with no hardware changes required. 

What Starlink Deployment Looks Like

From an IT standpoint, deploying Starlink is straightforward. The most involved part is mounting the equipment and running cabling.

Once it’s installed, the connection feeds into the school’s existing network just like any other incoming service. On large or sprawling campuses, including some private and independent schools, Starlink provides the entry point, while traditional networking distributes access across buildings. In some cases, multiple units may be recommended depending on campus layout, but the overall model is familiar to IT teams.

The Budget Question Schools Always Ask

Whenever connectivity comes up, cost and sustainability come up next.

The upfront cost for starting a Starlink deployment would be anywhere from $400 to $1,700 per unit, depending on the units. There’s a standard kit, which works fine in districts where  a little rain is the worst weather they get.

But if I were talking to a school district in rural Washington or Alaska, I would likely recommend the enterprise-grade kit, which is a more ruggedized kit all around.

As for ongoing service, CDW has access to low-cost Starlink data plans specifically built for rural and remote education institutions.

DISCOVER: Explore funding opportunities for your school’s projects.

Why This Matters Beyond the Classroom

For many rural schools, reliable connectivity affects more than instruction. Schools often serve as community hubs, providing access to online learning, training programs and virtual services that aren’t available elsewhere.

Connectivity also matters during disruptions. When storms or disasters knock out wireline and cellular infrastructure, nonterrestrial connectivity can help restore access more quickly, assuming power is available.

There’s no single connectivity solution that works everywhere. Geography, existing infrastructure and community needs all play a role in determining what will work best. What is clear, however, is that schools can no longer afford unreliable internet access. When the network fails, teaching, communication and day-to-day operations fail right along with it.

For districts facing last-mile challenges, the goal isn’t perfection, it’s continuity. Having the ability to keep classrooms running, staff connected and systems online, even when traditional options fall short, can make all the difference.

This article is part of the ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology series.