Not ready to pay the high fee to own a Starlink dish? SpaceX is introducing the option to rent one for around $18 per month starting in the UK.
The company is notifying customers in the country about the rent-a-Starlink option, according to a user on Reddit. In the email, SpaceX says the required dish hardware can be rented for £15 ($18) per month while paying an additional one-time £99 ($118) activation fee.
“There are no long-term contracts, both hardware rental and service are charged month-to-month,” the company wrote. A user can also return the Starlink dish within 30 days and receive a full refund of the £99 activation fee.
The rent-a-Starlink option addresses the hefty start-up costs for first-time subscribers. Customers in the US, for example, pay $599 for the dish hardware. According to our review, the high upfront fee is one of the noticeable drawbacks to the satellite internet service.
On a Starlink support page, the company mentions the rental option is targeting “select markets,” although it’s currently only available in the UK. “Starlink kits may only be rented for the fixed Residential service, and is not available for Business, Maritime, Mobile, or RV Services,” the support page adds.
Doing the math, a UK user could subscribe to the rent-a-Starlink option for two years (24 months) before the costs would begin exceeding the upfront £460 fee to own the Starlink dish hardware. Once the service is canceled, a user has to return the Starlink dish in “good condition” otherwise they’ll be charged the full price of the hardware.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, making it unclear if the rental option will roll out in the US or Canada. But the residential Starlinks service is currently waitlisted across much of the continental US at a time when SpaceX is trying to address congestion issues facing the satellite internet service.