Elon Musk’s ‘Free’ Starlink for Hurricane Helene Victims Will Cost At Least $400

As Elon Musk likes to do whenever disaster strikes somewhere in the world, Hurricane Helene was another opportunity to show his generosity and make himself part of the news. This time, Musk made headlines with a promise that SpaceX Starlink would be free for 30 days to help in areas where fiber and cellular infrastructure might be taken offline. More than 200 people have been identified as dead in this disaster.

But the catch is that it is actually not free at all. It really looks like nothing more than a glorified new customer promotion.

For one, anyone interested in taking up this offer still has to pay about $400 for the meal itself (including shipping and tax) and is automatically put on a $120 monthly contract when the free month ends.

There are other problems with Musk’s offer. Register published a story investigating the Starlink free agreement and traveled to Boone, North Carolina to see how it was received by the locals. They interviewed a resident named Kinney Baughman who was unhappy.

He mentioned that many communities have been reduced to rubble due to this storm. If UPS can’t drive the streets to deliver someone a Starlink meal, wherever they live probably isn’t too bad. Considering the delivery time for Starlink is quoted at 2-3 weeks, broadband or mobile service may be restored to these people by then, when space-based satellite service will not be needed.

There is also a comic problem pointed out by Register: You need to get a data connection to order and activate the Starlink deal in the first place. “If you can get enough cellular signal to sign up now, you might wonder why you’d wait weeks to be pulled into a paid satellite service.”

“I can connect to a web page that works in the middle of nowhere,” said Nicole Hemsoth Prickett, editor of Register sent to a corrupted community to try to order Starlink (offering geofenced). “‘Which means hey, the data connection might work again, but not for you with Starlink unless you go up. It was an insult to many here who thought Free Internet Space Magic was real.’”

That’s not to say that most people in the affected areas don’t have the power needed for a Starlink container. They will need a generator, which is not something people usually have.

A month of free Starlink service is great, and better than nothing—especially if you already have Starlink. Additionally, the Register found that existing customers should reach out to customer service and hope to be granted a 30-day waiver at the end. Customers on the Starlink subreddit often complain that the company’s customer service is painfully slow.

Indeed, Musk’s Starlink has been very useful in war-torn Ukraine, where it has provided free service and dishes to soldiers. The Ukrainians said Starlink was essential for maintaining battlefield communications and controlling drones when traditional infrastructure was destroyed. But even then he reportedly used his federal control to block service in Crimea and eventually pushed the US government to begin paying the bills.

The Starlink offer at least didn’t cause the circus that some of his previous releases did to get in the way of people getting the help they needed. Like a DIY submarine that aims to bring back boys trapped in a cave in Thailand. Even the ventilators they donated early in the COVID were not actually ventilators.

This offer always looks good on the surface until you use a little scrutiny.