Live data from Hacker News

Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

starlink.com

251–260 of 374 posts

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#251
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I fully decked my roof out I can generate a good 20kWp I'm assuming OP isn't actually serving out of home (starlink won't help with it's CG-Nat), so it's not like they're running 5kW of servers. 10kWh a day seems perfectly reasonable amount to keep going. Given just running a generator it going to eat 20 litres a day on lowest load, over 3 weeks that's 400 litres you'd need to store. With a battery setup even if y…

That's crazy. There are huge differences is costs and use cases.A generator is $500, and mine can run for 24hrs on 5 gallons of gas. A 5kw solar system is about $25k to 35k in my area before batteries.

> A 5kW solar system is about $25k to 35k in my area before batteries.

Do you live on the moon?

Earlier this year I installed a 7.8kW system in Canada for $13k CAD all in, inc the inverter and labor. (Then I got a $5k subsidy to bring it to $8k out of pocket.)

It’s cheaper now, panel prices fall every month.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#252
post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, crucially, Starlink has been proactive in trying to disconnect Russian operatives who have managed to attain a Starlink connection. All the same, Elon’s backing of Trump doesn’t bode well for a good outcome for Ukraine (nor other ex-USSR satellites that are feeling very nervous right now)

>proactive "causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened". Instead Elmo denied the fact russians had working terminals in the first place, and was later forced by State Dep to enact some measures. Those measures are still ineffective as evidenced by recent Starlink controlled Iranian Shahed drone sighting.

Forced. The word proactive is in a statement from a Pentagon official, not SpaceX.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been a lifelong liberal and won't vote Democrat after seeing how SpaceX and Tesla are being treated by the liberal media, including the publishing of outright fake news by so called reputable outlets. I don't support Trump or Putin or dictators in general. If I vote Republican at some point it'd be an anti-Democrat vote.

Democrats aren’t the liberal media, and the current Democratic controlled government also happen to be subsidizing both SpaceX and Tesla

No SpaceX subsidies. It's not a thing in the launch industry.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're mostly getting the hardware for free. A lot of people in TN and elsewhere are delivering and installing Starlink units for free to the disaster areas(more than the US govt), and begging Elon for free service. Seems like he or someone at Starlink was listening.

Why don't the good samaritans also pay for the service? Serious question. 300 bucks for the equipment, what is another 120 for a month? Why bring the 300 dollar kit if the service cannot be payed for? Some folks wanted to stock up, but couldn't. [1] Storm was near the end of the month, people were waiting for their paycheck, and so just had no money to buy supplies, let alone a starlink kit or the service. [1] source…

People have the hardware but are having issues signing up.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#255
post #84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are coming across as someone with an axe to grind. There are plenty of private people and organizations getting supplies to the areas in need. Starlink hardware is definitely included as it's the best way to get remote communication up and going at the moment.

I like accuracy, numbers, details. I see statements that seem to say something specific but with a lot of qualifiers and vagueness and I start to wonder. I was satisfied with the other person's response.

There's 500 dishes directly from SpaceX that are free hardware and service.

Dishes and service paid in full for by FEMA, organizations and individuals.

Some people have dishes and are having trouble signing up for service, usually new Starlink dishes have an hour of free service. Now that's 30 days.

If you already have a dish and you turn it on it will just work. No sign up, no accounts

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, I didn't mean for free from Starlink, I meant free via donation. I follow a half dozen accounts in the area, and they're all donating a lot. Here is one, for example. Ignore the politics and just scroll through the Starlink posts - https://x.com/robbystarbuck Here's another that claims Starlink drove the units straight out. Unclear if they were free or not. https://x.com/TheShawnHendrix/status/1841823155…

[flagged]

They (people who need service in the area going to central places where aid is delivered) are mostly getting it for free

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#258
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They tried not servicing Crimea due to an unwillingness to get involved in the war, and the DoD quickly made them toe the geopolitical line I am confused, it's illegal for Starlink to prove access to Russia and Russian occupied areas like Crimea because of US sanctions. So essentially the opposite of what you're claiming.

In short, the Ukrainians (with whom it is indeed legal to do business) wanted to use Starlink as c&c for drone strikes in occupied Crimea. It was off, per sanctions (and other reasons) as you note. SpaceX was opposed to turning it back on, presumably wishing to stay out of the geopolitical calculus of the war. They do have a rather lot to lose if war extends to space. The DoD overruled them, either via requirements f…

They overruled them by paying money.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#259
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starlink is bearing a real cost to service these new users. Yes they could donate more, but that is literally true for every single person providing relief right now.

Yes, offering the service probably has some marginal cost, but I am positive it is well within their projected (and profitable) CAC. People who are donating have zero chance of a positive financial outcome. That is why it is called a donation.

If you donate anything you have an immediate real or opportunity cost.

You can't take that away.

Re: Starlink offering free internet access for 30 days for Hurricane Helene victims

#260
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be better if more local people were subscribed to StarLink to begin with? People like you literally cannot be happy about anything. Good grief. I mean, Comcast and Xfinity will probably not go down the next time this happens, right? At worse this is nice gesture that will result in a slight market correction and better outcomes for all next time.

It is marketing on the back of a natural disaster. Again, a nice gesture is actual charity, not a “the first month is free” promotional cliche.

It's actual charity addressing a particular expressed and asked for need.

Someone who had dishes asked for this.

It's not a wouldn't this be nice gift. Someone needed this enough to ask for this

Post reply on HN