Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service announced it would provide free access for 30 days to survivors of Hurricane Helene. However, recipients still need to pay $400 for the system’s hardware, including the dish, shipping, handling, and taxes. Musk wrote on X that all Starlink terminals would work automatically “without [the] need for payment in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene.” Despite this, the hardware costs remained, leaving many in need to bear the expense.
Starlink also promoted a special help page for hurricane victims, stating that anyone in the disaster-hit area who signs up for the free internet service would be automatically moved to a $120-a-month residential subscription after the 30-day grace period. Customers who already had a dish and wanted to waive their fees needed to create a special support ticket, which the company would evaluate at an unspecified date.
Starlink hardware costs burden survivors
Kinney Baughman, a resident of Boone, NC, criticized the Starlink offer as a “craft bait and switch,” suggesting that the offer was designed to take advantage of people rather than help them. Baughman noted that it was not worth it for residents to take up Musk on his offer since it would take months before they could get service, by which time normal internet access would likely have been restored. In a related effort, Musk also announced that the rollout of Starlink direct-to-cell phone connectivity for areas affected by hurricanes had been accelerated, and that this service was being provided free of charge by SpaceX and T-Mobile to help those in need.
Two weeks ago, Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida, leaving at least 230 dead across the South. As the cleanup from Helene was getting underway, another deadly storm, Milton, prompted evacuations in western Florida, expected to make landfall late Wednesday night.
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