Starlink offers free internet for remainder of year for hurricane victims

Starlink, a satellite-based internet provider, offered free internet service for 30 days to anyone in the areas affected by the Helene and Milton hurricanes. The company recently expanded that offer for the remainder of the year. 

New customers must purchase the necessary equipment from Starlink, Best Buy or Home Depot. The equipment costs $299, plus taxes. 

States with affected areas include West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.  

Starlink’s residential internet plan is regularly priced at $120/mo. It offers download speeds of 25 to 200 Mbps. 

Starlink’s site says, “If you are impacted by Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton or need to enable rapid assistance for responding to communities affected by the hurricane and want to access this free service option,” follow these instructions:

Current customers

If you are a customer impacted by Hurricane Helene or Milton, please create a support ticket requesting a “Hurricane Relief” credit. Starlink teams will evaluate eligibility based on the same impacted areas as above.

New customers

• Go to starlink.com/residential
• Enter your address and click “Order Now”
• Select the “Hurricane Relief” service plan and check out
• Note: Only service areas impacted by Helene or Milton will display the “Hurricane Relief” service option. If you do not see the $0 option, your area is not eligible.

Current customers activating additional kits purchased from a retailer

• Go to starlink.com/activate
• Enter your Starlink kit identifier
• Enter your address and click “Search”
• Select “Residential”
• Select the “Hurricane Relief” service plan and check out
• Repeat for each kit, if adding more than one
• Starlink has temporarily increased the kit limit to 12 kits per residential account. If you need to add more than 12 kits for large-scale activation assistance for emergency response groups, please get in touch with support requesting Hurricane assistance.

Free Starlink details

Once the free period at the end of 2024 has closed, customers will be moved to a paid residential subscription tied to the location where it’s being used. Customers will be notified by the end of the year to remind them of the upcoming pay options.

According to Starlink, “If you activated a Mini on the Hurricane Relief plan, then you will be moved to a Roam unlimited subscription at the end of the year.”