(Credit: SpaceX)
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It’s not quite free, but SpaceX's Starlink is pushing hard to attract new customers in the US by offering the satellite internet system with no up-front costs.
The company first teased the scheme in Iowa in early October, but started expanding the offer across the US last week. It effectively slashes the hardware cost to $0 for new customers on the Starlink Residential plan; they just pay about $20 for shipping.
(Credit: Starlink.com)The deal is enticing since signing up as a new Starlink customer typically requires a one-time payment of $300 for a satellite dish. Still, there's a catch: The $0 dish is a rental and requires the customer to return the hardware if they cancel their Starlink subscription. That said, SpaceX says customers can purchase the dish outright later on by submitting a support ticket.
(Credit: Starlink.com)The other condition is that SpaceX appears to only be offering the deal in parts of the US where it has excess capacity for Starlink, which uses orbiting satellites to deliver high-speed broadband. In these areas, the company is also slashing the monthly price for Starlink to as low as $49 per month for the Residential Lite plan and $59 for the faster Residential plan, down from $80 and $120 per month, respectively.
(Credit: Facebook/SpaceX)SpaceX has been aggressively promoting the deal on social media. To make the promotion even more appealing, the company is offering an additional freebie for new sign-ups in certain areas of the US: At no extra charge, the company will also send a third-party “professional installer” to your house to set up the dish, a service that usually costs $199.
The company uses a contractor, DSI, for the installations; however, some customers have complained about the poor service. Other professional satellite dish installers have also raised quality concerns about DSI’s work, which threatens their businesses.
The offer is perhaps SpaceX's most aggressive effort yet to grow Starlink in the US, where it has over 2 million active subscribers. The company’s previous discounts have included a truly free Starlink dish in exchange for a 12-month subscription commitment.
In other areas overloaded with Starlink users, such as the Pacific Northwest, you won’t find such discounts. Instead, the company has been charging new sign-ups extra through a one-time “demand surcharge” that can reach as high as $1,000.