SpaceX Expands Free Starlink Dish Offer Throughout US

SpaceX is expanding a promotion that lowers the cost of Starlink hardware to $0 for some new U.S. sign-ups and adding cheaper monthly prices in certain markets.

There is a big asterisk, however: the dish is rented, not purchased, and it must be returned if you quit.

How the Starlink free hardware rental offer works

Eligible new residential customers can pay no hardware fee up-front to order a Starlink kit, with shipping priced at about $20. The standard Starlink kit typically costs around $300, and the up-front savings are considerable.

As part of the promotion, the Starlink dish and router stay SpaceX property. You are required to ship the kit back or be subject to potential unreturned equipment charges if you cancel service, per Starlink’s terms. SpaceX says customers can also later purchase the kit outright by asking for it via support, but that’s optional and not included in the base offer.

Where the offer is available and what it costs to use

Eligibility appears tied to capacity. In markets where Starlink has bandwidth to spare, SpaceX is offering the $0 kit with reduced monthly prices — typically labeled as $49 per month for a Residential Lite plan and $59 for standard Residential, savings from regular rates that have been generally around $80 and $120.

In crowded zones, the picture is reversed. Potential customers may be deterred by the typical up-front hardware cost or even a “demand surcharge” of hundreds of dollars — if not, as some have reported, $1,000 — to choke off sign-ups when cells are overwhelmed. This pricing model reflects how Starlink handles the inelastic capacity of gateway-side deployment to the service spot-beam coverage area.

Installation perks, pro setup options, and caveats

SpaceX is also offering free professional installation in some ZIP codes, a service that it frequently advertises for about $199. Many jobs are contracted through a third-party contractor, DSI. Though pro install does lower the barrier to entry for non-technical folks, companies and customers alike publicly worry about inconsistent mounting or grounding practices.

If you choose pro install, insist on a real line-of-sight placement and have them confirm with photos that cable routing looks good before the holes are drilled.

A clean install is important — Starlink performs best when its phased-array antenna can see the sky uninterrupted, and it’s mounted so wind doesn’t catch it and knock its aim to the satellite off by even a hair.

Why SpaceX wants you to rent the Starlink kit hardware

The rental model solves the largest onboarding friction: the up-front kit price. It also allows SpaceX the ability to redeploy hardware when customers churn without having to send a truck out to replace it again, no small consideration in a world where capacity and demand can vary from block to block. When you have thousands of satellites in orbit — including higher-capacity V2 Mini units, whose planned deployment will complete the constellation this year — Starlink can throttle back or open up a sign-up bottleneck to match the load at each cell.

Performance is still very location-based, but with each round of satellites being added it has generally improved. Independent data from Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence shows that U.S. median Starlink downloads are regularly topping 60 Mbps in many states, with latency far lower than what one gets from traditional geostationary satellite services. During peak hours, speeds can slow to a crawl in crowded cells, which is one reason that SpaceX continues to incent traffic to beams with excess capacity.

How Starlink compares with alternatives and rivals

In rural areas not served by fiber or cable, Starlink’s cheaper tiers peg right around where fixed wireless services from T-Mobile or Verizon are priced, which frequently advertise rates of around $50 to $60 a month. Legacy satellite plans like HughesNet’s or Viasat’s usually fall short on latency and sustained throughput, but the hopper of localized promos has been pretty full.

Wired ISPs, for urban and suburban homes with fiber or DOCSIS 3.1 cable available (which are few), still offer superior consistency and peak speeds at the same or lower cost. The best case for Starlink’s value proposition is where there is no such terrestrial infrastructure at all — or, to a lesser extent (or until it can be upgraded), where the fixed wireless capacity of the sort that Facebook has invested in may be constrained.

Fine print to read before you order or return gear

Because the kit is rented, a requirement of using it is that you take care to get it back in good shape if you cancel. Consult Starlink’s service agreement for return windows, packaging needs, and potential fees for damaged or unreturned equipment. Save your original box if you have it; it makes shipping easier.

Look into whether your address is considered a capacity-available area before you can count on the reduced monthly rates or complimentary install. Availability may change as SpaceX moves capacity around or more neighbors sign up. If you relocate, you may be required to update your service address or re-qualify as a new subscriber, consistent with FCC service-area rules.

This is the most aggressive on-ramp Starlink has offered for many households: no up-front hardware costs, cheaper monthly plans where the network can support it, and optional free installation. Just don’t forget the trade-off — you’re getting the dish “free” to keep if you want it, but only today; otherwise, it goes back on the shelf.

Watchers in industry and at agencies like the FCC and NTIA can better understand how promotions such as this might cause an improvement to rural adoption and competition. With millions of Starlink subscribers around the globe — and the United States as its biggest market — SpaceX is running a telecom playbook that has been tried before by industry giants, who use rentals and targeted pricing to fill capacity now, converting renters into long-term customers later.