As Elon Musk likes to do whenever disaster hits somewhere in the world, Hurricane Helene was another opportunity to show off his generosity and make himself part of the news. This time, Musk made headlines with a promise that SpaceX Starlink would be free for 30 days to help in places where fiber and cellular infrastructure might have been knocked offline. More than 200 people have been identified as dead in the disaster.
But the catch is that it’s really not free at all. It really looks like not much more than a glorified new-customer promotion.
For one, anyone interested in taking up the offer still has to pay approximately $400 for the dish itself (including shipping and tax) and they’re getting automatically rolled into a $120 per-month contract when the free month ends.
Sounds about right. Rich people don’t get rich by giving away hand outs. They get rich by being assholes.
Melon Husk went from “I MUST be the one to save the world” to “pay up if you want to be saved”.
Fucking hell - Verizon, Sprint and AT&T also, apparently have free Helene deals on offer! And Comcast (or whatever the hell they rebranded too) has six months and their nipple flaps at the ready!
I’ll admit that I haven’t lived in the US in more than a decade so some of the companies may be out of date - Sprint is/was a large phone carrier.
They are giving you shit because:
Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The company also offered wireless voice, messaging, and broadband services through its various subsidiaries under the Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands and wholesale access to its wireless networks to mobile virtual network operators.
Comcast (or whatever the hell they rebranded too)
Xfinity, although I prefer my head canon on which they rebranded to Crapcast
Is any other company doing literally anything? Hughesnet? Viasat?
I love to hate on Musk but this might be a stretch.
The point isn’t that musk is the only one doing anything, the point is musk is one of the people trying to sneakily profit off the disaster.
Isnt the actual cost of the Starlink equipment well over the hardware cost? If people buy it and then return it when services come back up it’s not much of a profit.
What would be an acceptable donation? 2 free months? 4 months?
your questions are a clue about why other companies are not offering subscription discounts in response to a hurricane.
how many hello fresh boxes would be good for a hurricane? how many months subscription to chess.com? how many free sessions at a planet fitness of your choosing?
Yes there’s a lot of other companies doing. Literally anything stupid question idiot
How many of those companies have hundreds of dollars in up front hardware costs that they don’t normally discount or just give away as a course of regular business (where that is already calculated into operating costs)?
