Starlink Offers its UK Home Ultrafast Satellite Broadband Kit for FREE
Space-based internet provider Starlink (SpaceX) last night announced that new domestic customers looking to join their ultrafast home broadband service in the UK could now sign-up and get the hardware for free (terminal/dish and router etc.), instead of paying the usual £299 (one-off).
At present Starlink has around 7,800 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (c.4,100 are v2 Mini / GEN 2A) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and they’ll add thousands more by the end of 2027. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £75 a month, plus £299 for hardware on the ‘Standard’ unlimited data plan (the kit price does vary, due to different offers), which promises UK latency times of 28-36ms, downloads of 103-258Mbps and uploads of 15-26Mbps. But cheaper and more restrictive options also exists for roaming users.
Starlink had previously been offering its hardware for free (instead of £299) in only a few very limited UK locations, but the new promotion seems to extend that across much more of the country. The company’s email does, however, continue to state that this promotion is “available in select UK areas only“, but we’ve yet to identify which locations may be unable to benefit.
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The only catch is that this offer can currently only be taken alongside a 12-month minimum contract term.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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and of course theres the additional cost of the installation of the equipment.
Installation cost? It’s very much a DIY job for all but the most infirm or DIY-inept.
The Starlink app (preferably utilised before you go and order the service) to find the right swath of sky to aim the dish at and a drill and suitably sized drill bit are all you generally need (certainly easier than putting up your own Freesat dish!).
That’s the amazing thing about the service. You just plonk it on the ground anywhere in view of the sky. Maybe rotate it a bit if the app tells you – and bam.. hundreds of megabits per second.
I hate saying it’s good because Musk is a tool – but Starlink is utterly stunning in terms of fast, no install connectivity in the middle of nowhere.
Small price to pay for decent internet. I had (and maintain) absolutely *zero* interest in climbing up ladders and doing a shoddy job of sticking the kit on the house. So I paid someone who knows what they are doing and got a proper decent job done.
This offer has been available for months. In fact, it’s just ended in Ireland, so the consensus is that it will end in the UK shortly.
It’s not been available in the SE of England.
If there is anyone out there who is on A/VDSL and looking for a high speed alternative, I can vouch for Starlink. I know there are some who will not agree with Musk’s politics, but I bet that doesn’t stop you buying other goods and services.
Anyway, that aside, I ran Starlink full time for around 9 months before FTTP was available. I think it was down once during that entire time due to a global outage for a couple of hours, but on the whole, I usually had 200Mbps-300Mbps anytime I needed to use it. Latency for me was 30-35ms but I recently fired my unit back up for some roaming use and it’s now down to the low 20’s. Very impressive.
It’s not much the politics as the worry that Musk might pull out of the UK at a moment’s notice or sue its customers that would keep me away.
There’s a certain level of caprice that automatically breaks trust and Musk is way past that point.
Not available in Hampshire. Still £299 plus £195 surcharge.
Not available in Kent either.
Showing as free in Devon & Cornwall
Free in Cornwall. Getting 350MB/sec most mornings, between 150 & 200 in the busier times.
Going to assume you mean Mb/s or Mbps.
350 MB/s is 2800 Mbps!
One-Time Payment
Starlink Standard Kit
£299
Demand Surcharge
£195
Lol do one Musk
I think the demand surcharge is telling you to do one until demand falls!
Giving Musk (the other narcissistic man-toddler) any extra money is irresponsible.
Hatfield for example says
“There is a surge demand in your area” and need to pay for the kit.
Same here in west London.
Not free in Hertfordshire (AL10)
Speed nowhere near 300mbps in Yorkshire. At £75 a month it’s only worth it if you absolutely cannot get a physical broadband connection. Ping/latency is terrible. Id get rid of it instantly if I had a choice; same as the Tesla.
You have a choice but your virtue signalling only goes as far as not actually having to make a personal sacrifice.
It’s free in Skelmersdale!
Where can I find a list of the political leanings of every ISP CEO so that I can make the best decision when picking a provider?
A 2 tiered economy is what is already happening in the US although many companies have actually rolled back on the pandering because many of them are actually not customers. The bud light effect is real and it’s glorious to see Target change it’s stock from the horrors of previous years to just selling good american clothing
In gaming the same is happening with massive budget AAA games like Asssasins Creed Shadows, Dragon Age Failguard, Concord, Avowed, etc massively flopping and great games like Expedition 33 and Stellar Blade breaking sales records. Nature is healing
It’s available in Bangor north Wales with no fee
Sure free gear but they still want a 299 fee for surcharge due to demand in Oxfordshire
Yup £499 for me in Oxfordshire. Steep price to pay for starting costs plus the £75 a month is quite a bit more than alot faster fibre would be. I may have no choice though unfortunately but I really don’t want to pay the 499 upfront.
If I can I would avoid anything from Musk. I understand at time is not possible, maybe it’s time to regulate the satellite infrastructure, opening up the market for isp’s to offer packages using Musk backbone…
So somebody else takes all the risk and expenditure so that others can piggy back
Free, but we’ll charge you when a few people in your council area take up this offer.. seems like false advertising.
Plus, why would you want to support a N@z1 like him and hand over your personal details and all of your communication data.
Nothing is ever free, especially when it comes to people like him.
They’re desperate for some less awful PR and people are lapping it up because they’re frustrated that ISPs can’t just find £Bs for gigantic infrastructure upgrades while not wanting to pay any more for services or even line rental who’s main purpose is to cover the maintenance and upgrade of the telecoms network.
I really hope this isn’t a paid advert..
Why is Elon Musk a national socialist? If anything he’s the opposite achieving sustainable travel, the human right to free speech, working on making humanity multiplanetary, cutting government waste, helping people with very serious health conditions, and here giving people access to broadband
EDS is a real thing
Politics aside, I fitted my Starlink kit today, mounted at the eaves with a not perfect view of the Southern sky – 322Mbps down, 34Mbps up, 18 – 27ms latency.
I can tell you it is night and day going from 26Mbps down and 0.8Mbps up so I am absolutely delighted.
Will do nicely until OR get around to coming back to the area with fibre.