Elon Musk promised to give Hurricane Helene victims 30 days of free access to his Starlink satellite internet service, but the billionaire failed to mention that survivors of the catastrophic storm that claimed the lives of more than 200 people would have to spend more than $400 on system equipment.
Starlink, a division of Musk's rocket-building and space exploration company SpaceX, announced last week on its official X website that its service “is now free for 30 days” for Helena survivors who live in areas where telephone cables have been cut and fiber optics – denying them access to the Internet.
The post went viral, generating tens of millions of views.
Musk then wrote in X that all Starlink terminals will operate automatically “without () the need to pay in areas affected by Hurricane Helene.”
But an experiment conducted by online publication The Register found that anyone who tried to sign up for the service from the affected area still had to pay $400 for the dish, plus shipping, handling and taxes.
Starlink also began promoting a special help page created exclusively for hurricane victims.
According to the company, anyone in the affected area who signs up for free internet access will automatically be upgraded to a $120-per-month landline plan after a 30-day grace period.
Customers who live in a disaster zone and already have the dish and want to have the fees waived must create a special support request, which the company will process at an unspecified date.
Kinney Baughman, a resident of Boone, North Carolina, told The Register that Starlink's offer is “an elaborate bait-and-switch … designed to take advantage of people instead of helping them.”
Baughman said it's not worth it for residents to take up his Musk offer, given that it will be “months before you get the service” – by which time normal internet access will likely be restored.
“Assuming someone can get over one or two, if not more, broken bridges and physically get their hands on the device, it still requires electricity to run it,” Baughman said.
“Thousands of people are still without power and hundreds, if not thousands, are without a generator.”
The Post has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
Musk, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, is critical of the federal authorities' response to Helene.
Two weeks ago, Helene flooded streets and homes in West Florida during a devastating march that killed at least 230 people in the South.
As the cleanup from Helene began, Floridians in the western part of the state were forced to evacuate on Monday and Tuesday as another deadly storm, Milton, was expected to make landfall late Wednesday evening.
