Starlink is offering free internet access for thirty days for folks affected by Hurricane Helene

@MimicSquid @PuddleOfKittens @bendvis

I used to live around Asheville and still have friends in the area. I've been paying an unhealthy amount of attention to the situation.

I know of at least two instances in which a person who already had Starlink equipment came and set it up at a public place for people to use while cell service was down, becoming their only line out to the rest of the world. Starlink offering relief like this is not shallow or meaningless.

I get it, Elon bad, but loosening restrictions on service and waiving charges can play a crucial role in restoring communication in disaster areas. So crucial that the FCC encourages, and sometimes requires, operators to provide this sort of relief.

So what Starlink is doing isn't notable, but that doesn't make it a "positive PR spin", or "bad-faith advertising". They're just doing what's expected of them as a network operator.

Pretty much every major mobile network operator will remove restrictions and waive charges for service in areas affected by natural disasters. I know for a fact AT&T and Verizon have sent out alerts to their customers in the affected zip codes, and most other carriers probably have by now as well.

That this offer doesn't include free equipment is unfortunate, but it doesn't make the offer meaningless. In Western North Carolina, tens of thousands of people live in homes isolated on the mountains. Some of these people are still stranded by landslides that destroyed roadways. Some had to be rescued by helicopter.

Even for those who aren't stranded, they still likely don't have power, let alone internet access. I can imagine there are thousands of homes in the mountains whose line connections for power, and everything else, have been severed. The power connections alone might take weeks to repair. The internet connections could take months. A lot of these homes don't have cell service. They rely on internet access for phone calls and text messages. Suddenly, a satellite connection like Starlink starts to seem appealing.

So again, offers like this aren't meaningless, and operators like Starlink are encouraged to provide them. Having said all that, there are some things I would like to see Starlink do beyond just this offer:

• I don't think existing customers should need to request a free month of service, it should just automatically be provided, like mobile carriers having been doing. I'm guessing Starlink doesn't have the infrastructure in place to do that automatically yet though.
• Offering free, or at least discounted service, to new and existing customers in the affected areas beyond thirty days, would also be immensely helpful. Even with FEMA assistance, so many people are going to have to spend thousands of dollars on home repairs. Any reduction in expenses would be helpful.
• Offering loaner units to people in the affected areas would probably be the best thing Starlink could do right now, so that people who might only need the service for a few months, until their normal connection is restored, could then return the units.