Starlink announced Wednesday that areas impacted by Hurricane Helene are eligible for 30 days of free service. The company posted a photo of the eligible areas: Areas affected by Hurricane Helene are currently eligible for 30 days of free Starlink service to help with response and recovery efforts → https://t.co/SmoEBQdQQR pic.twitter.com/FBeBtn8cqn — Starlink (@Starlink) October 2, 2024 Per Starlink: Starlink aims to enable anyone impacted by a natural disaster to be able to access internet connectivity. For those in areas that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, Starlink is available and temporarily offering free service for the first month. If you are impacted by Hurricane Helene, or are looking to enable rapid assistance for responding to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, and need to access this 30 day free service option, please follow the steps below: New customers: Go to starlink.com/residential Enter your address, and click order now Select the “Helene Relief” service plan and check out Note – Only service areas impacted by Helene will display the “Helene Relief” service option. if you do not see the $0 option, your area is not eligible. If you believe this is in error, please let us know by contacting support. Current customers activating additional kits purchased from a retailer: Go to starlink.com/activate Enter your Starlink kit identifier Enter your address, click search Select “Residential” Select the “Helene Relief” service plan and check out Repeat for each kit, if adding more than one Note – We have temporarily increased the kit limit to 20 kits per residential account. If you need to add more than 20 kits to your account for large account activation assistance for emergency response groups, please contact support requesting Helene assistance. Current customers: If you are in need of assistance due to Hurricane Helene as a current customer, please create a support ticket requesting a Helene relief credit. Our teams will evaluate eligibility based on the same impacted areas as above. Other information to know After 30 days, we will move you to a paid Residential subscription, tied the location you are using it in at that time. We will reevaluate as necessary based on conditions in the area. Starlink will notify you as the 30 day mark approaches to remind you of the change. There may be limitations on the ability to transfer these kits or continue free service outside of the disaster region. More details will be added here as necessary. “For those impacted by Hurricane Helene, or looking to support response and recovery efforts in affected areas, Starlink is now free for 30 days,” Starlink added. For those impacted by Hurricane Helene, or looking to support response and recovery efforts in affected areas, Starlink is now free for 30 days. Learn more here → https://t.co/SmoEBQdj1j https://t.co/pfWsdREYMb — Starlink (@Starlink) October 2, 2024 “The FCC reaffirmed its rejection of a nearly $900 million subsidy to SpaceX‘s Starlink program,” Space Explored reported last year. The subsidy would have provided North Carolina nearly 20,000 working Starlink kits. FYI – North Carolina would have 19,522 working @Starlink kits available today after Hurricane Helene had the FCC not revoked in bad faith the grant that was awarded to SpaceX as the winning bidder. pic.twitter.com/oXqTuyFBAc — ALEX (@ajtourville) September 30, 2024 “Had the FCC not illegally revoked the SpaceX Starlink award, it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina. Lawfare costs lives,” Elon Musk said. Had the FCC not illegally revoked the SpaceX Starlink award, it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina. Lawfare costs lives. https://t.co/FF0ugexP2g — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2024 “The Federal Communications Commission today reaffirmed the Wireline Bureau’s prior decision to reject the long-form application of Starlink to receive public support through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, based on the applicant’s failure to meet the program requirements. The program, which uses scarce universal service funding collected from consumers, sought to expand access to broadband networks in rural areas,” the FCC wrote in December 2023. “The FCC is tasked with ensuring consumers everywhere have access to high-speed broadband that is reliable and affordable. The agency also has a responsibility to be a good steward of limited public funds meant to expand access to rural broadband, not fund applicants that fail to meet basic program requirements,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The FCC followed a careful legal, technical and policy review to determine that this applicant had failed to meet its burden to be entitled to nearly $900 million in universal service funds for almost a decade,” she added. Per Space Explored: In a 3-2 vote down party lines, the FCC decided to reaffirm its denial of Starlink, SpaceX’s LEO satellite internet service, of a $886 million subsidy. The subsidy would have come through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, which aimed to bring high speed internet to primarily rural regions of the US. After numerous back and forths between the FCC and SpaceX through out 2022, the commission determined Starlink would not meet the required technical and financial milestones by the deadline of 2025. The FCC used median national download and upload speed data provided by Ookla, an internet analyst firm, from 2021 and 2022 to show Starlink would not be able to meet requirements set for 2025. SpaceX disagreed with the use of the data as the requirements were not set to be in place until 2025 and it failed to take in account what could change when the company deploys more satellites over the coming years. The FCC requires winners of bids for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program to provide at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds to its intended locations by 2025. Starlink, the only LEO satellite provider that won a bid, can already provide service to almost the entirety of the US, including the intended locations it won bids for. However, currently Starlink does not meet the 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload benchmarks in nationwide tests while it continues to build out its network. According to Ookla’s recent report, Starlink’s US national download speeds where 79.04 Mbps in November 2023, a year over year increase from 2022’s median of 66.26 Mbps. The company has launch nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites in 2023, many of them the new Gen 2 Mini variation with expanded performance. Meanwhile, according to the two dissenting statements by Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, none of the other winners would be able to pass those requirements either, as they have not begun to provide service to their locations yet.