Starlink shifts hardware from one-time purchase to $10/month rental • Hacker News Board

Re: Starlink shifts hardware from one-time purchase to $10/month rental

#21

Post by fuckinpuppers » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 7:26 AM UTC

I keep getting offers for $50/mo for service but my area is considered a premium market or something and they want $500 up front for the service (nothing to do with the hardware)

I live in suburbs. They obviously know I have cable and other options so gouge me if I want them.

I was going to go with $50/mo with the free hardware and keep it for backup when primary goes down. But not with that much commitment and no guarantees. They’ve already bumped the standby price (for no usage) to $10/mo on the mini

Re: Starlink shifts hardware from one-time purchase to $10/month rental

#22

Post by KetoManx64 » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC

laughing_man wrote: post #9

That's what my ISP does with the cable modem. Why not?

I bring my own modem/router and access point and pay my ISP $35/month for 1Gb up/down. Why would I pay $10 forever when I can bring my own equipment that is much better and fully controlled by me?

Re: Starlink shifts hardware from one-time purchase to $10/month rental

#23

Post by jauntywundrkind » Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 8:26 PM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #18

> Customers who rent Starlink hardware instead of owning it will not be allowed to pause their service. Wow, get fucked!

I'm just even more mad, because it means folks will be so so much less Right to Repair, Right to Tinker, about this property they no longer can own.

If you break it, then what do you pay? But what if you fix it after? Oh sorry, that device has been deactivated forever, of course of course of course.

Nightmare hell mode from such an evil evil evil murderous inflaming (literally, last night) chainsaw wielding government (DOGE) & person murdering (USAID) man. You will own nothing intensifies.

Re: Starlink shifts hardware from one-time purchase to $10/month rental

#24

Post by laughing_man » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 8:17 AM UTC

KetoManx64 wrote: post #22

laughing_man wrote: post #9

That's what my ISP does with the cable modem. Why not?

I bring my own modem/router and access point and pay my ISP $35/month for 1Gb up/down. Why would I pay $10 forever when I can bring my own equipment that is much better and fully controlled by me?

There are a couple reasons. What I found when I owned my own modem was whenever there was a problem I first had to convince them the problem was on their end, since they could always shrug and say "it's probably your modem". They can connect to their own equipment and immediately identify the problem.

The other reason is you might not have the money when you sign up. For a lot of people it's easier to come up with $10 than (in Starlink's case) $500.