As Elon Musk likes to do whenever a disaster occurs somewhere in the world, Hurricane Helen was an opportunity to show off his generosity and make himself part of the news. This time, Musk made headlines by promising to provide SpaceX Starlink free of charge for 30 days to help places where fiber optic or cell phone infrastructure may have been down. More than 200 people are confirmed dead in the disaster.
But the problem is, it’s not actually free at all. It actually appears to be nothing more than a glorified new customer promotion.
First, those who want to take part in this offer will have to pay around $400 (including shipping and taxes) for the dish itself, which will automatically roll into a $120 per month contract once the free month ends .
There are other problems with Musk’s proposal. register The story has been published Investigating Starlink free contract And I visited Boone, North Carolina to see how it was received by the locals. They interviewed a resident named Kinney Bowman, and he wasn’t thrilled.
He noted that the hurricane had reduced many communities to rubble. If UPS could drive down the road and deliver a Starlink dish to someone, the area where that person lives probably wouldn’t be as badly affected. Given Starlink’s estimated delivery time of two to three weeks, it’s possible that broadband or cell phone service will be restored for these people by then, in which case space-based satellite services will be It will no longer be needed.
There are also some comical logistical problems pointed out by . register: To order and activate Starlink transactions in the first place, you need to find a data connection. “You may be wondering why you should wait weeks to get pulled into a paid satellite service if you can receive a good enough cellular signal to sign up now.”
“We were able to connect to active web pages even in remote locations,” says editor Nicole Hemsoth Prickett. register These are the people who were sent to affected communities to try and order Starlink (the offer is geofenced). “It’s actually possible that your data connection will actually work again, but it won’t work on Starlink unless you pony up. Many here who believed that Free Internet Space Magic was real. For them, it was a damaging insult.”
Needless to say, many people in the affected areas do not have the power needed for Starlink cooking. You’ll need a generator, but the average person doesn’t have one.
It’s great that you get one month of Starlink services for free. It’s definitely better than nothing, especially if you’re already using Starlink. Also, as an exception, The Register found that existing customers should contact customer service and hope that they will eventually be granted a 30-day waiver. Customers on the Starlink subreddit often complain that the company’s customer service is painfully slow.
Indeed, Mr. Musk’s Starlink has been of great use in war-torn Ukraine, providing completely free services and food to the military. Ukrainians say Starlink is essential for maintaining communications on the battlefield and controlling drones where traditional infrastructure has been destroyed. But even there, he reportedly used unilateral control to prevent military activity in Crimea, ultimately pressuring the U.S. government to begin operations. bill payment.
Starlink’s proposal, at least, didn’t create a fuss that would distract people from getting the help they need, like some of his previous proposals did. Like a homemade submarine intended to retrieve boys trapped in a cave in Thailand. Or that the ventilator he donated in the early days of COVID-19 wasn’t actually a ventilator at all.
These offers always look great on the surface until you do some scrutiny.
