Upon inspection, the offer of a free month of Starlink service seems to be the type of deal you might give to any new customer.

As Elon Musk likes to do whenever disaster hits somewhere in the world, Hurricane Helene was another opportunity to show off 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 places where fiber and cellular infrastructure might have been knocked offline. More than 200 people have been identified as dead in the disaster.

But the catch is that it’s really not free at all. It really looks like not much more than a glorified new-customer promotion.

For one, anyone interested in taking up the offer still has to pay approximately $400 for the dish itself (including shipping and tax) and they’re getting automatically rolled into a $120 per-month contract when the free month ends.

  • Flying Squid
    5•6 hours ago

    Dude, you’re talking about a standard ISP offer. It is not any more a “free service” than any other ISP giving you one moth without paying a monthly fee. This does nothing to help hurricane victims despite it being pushed that way.

    Seriously, is the whole concept of “the first month is free if you sign up” new to you?

    • @halcyoncmdrEnglish
      -4•6 hours ago

      Your right, except Starlink doesn’t offer free service to new customers normally.

      So it is something special they don’t normally do.

      • Flying Squid
        5•5 hours ago

        So… a “special offer to new customers?”

        Again, a very common thing that businesses do all the time regardless of a hurricane.

        • @halcyoncmdrEnglish
          -3•5 hours ago

          A “very common thing” that Starlink does not do.

          You’re angry about a company offering something in the hurricane affected area that they don’t normally do with regular customers.

          It doesn’t matter if other companies offer something similar normally to new customers, Starlink does not do this, so it is a special thing for the Hurricane areas.

          Not sure why this is so hard for you to understand here, other than a blinding bias.

          • Flying Squid
            5•5 hours ago

            Ah, I see, out of the kindness of their heart, Starlink is having an unprecedented one-month-free sale for new customers surviving a hurricane, something many, many, many companies do all the time when there isn’t a hurricane, but they don’t usually do.

            And I’m angry that is being hailed as some sort of helpful or even heroic gesture on their part rather than, you know, a limited-time sale.

            That’s marketing being reported as fact. They’re having a sale, that’s all that’s happening. Stop suggesting there’s anything more to it than that just because they want you to think it.

            • @A_Random_IdiotEnglish
              7•5 hours ago

              Why cant you understand that elon musk is a generous angel who is trying to cash in on peoples fema checks?

              /s