Starlink Launches Rental Option

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Written By Viktor

Product manager by day, Starlink enthusiast by night.

Starlink just unveiled a monthly rental service, which, at the time of writing, is only available to consumers in the United Kingdom.

First spotted by users of the Starlink subreddit, the option now appears next to the regular purchase form.

The monthly price, as seen in the picture above, remains unchanged at £75 per month. Starlink adjusted its pricing structure in the UK back in August 2022 from the £89 it was previously charging.

starlink rental pricing uk
Starlink

But instead of paying £460 (£558 before) for the dishy, rental customers simply pay a £99 one-time activation fee as well as £15 per month for renting the hardware. The £99 activation fee will be refunded once the hardware has been returned.

Starlink kits may only be rented for the fixed Residential service and are not available for customers on the Business, Portability, Maritime, and RV plans.

Consequently, the rental option can be annulled at any time. If canceled, your service will remain active until the end of the payment period.

Your hardware kit must also be returned in an “undamaged, untampered and unmodified condition” within 30 days of canceling the service.

Otherwise, you will be charged the full price of the kit (= £460). The rental kits that Starlink sends are either new or refurbished. Customers are directly responsible for loss, repair, replacement and other costs, damages, fees, and charges, too.

Starlink will issue a return shipping label, which enables subscribers to send back the kit at presumably (!) no additional cost. Lastly, you also cannot transfer ownership of your hardware to another user.

Starlink has stated that the rental option is available “for customers in select countries” without specifying when other countries will be added.

It seems likely that consumers in the United States won’t be able to rent hardware equipment for the time being considering how congested the network remains. Back in late February 2023, Starlink even removed the Portability option for US-based subscribers and adjusted pricing to alleviate some of those congestion issues.

Other countries in Europe will likely be the first to have rentals as an additional option due to their proximity (I assume that Starlink ships from just a few centrally located fulfillment centers).

Starlink recently filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to sell a smaller laptop-sized version of the dishy. This would certainly minimize shipment costs and make the rental option economically more feasible.

Available Countries

Starlink Rentals, as of late March 2023, have been expanded to a variety of different countries.

Here’s a list of all the countries where the rent option is available:

Starlink

Not surprisingly, most of those countries include European nations where bandwidth is still abundant.

And in case you wonder: Jersey is not the American state but a crown dependency and island off of the British coast.

How To Rent Starlink Hardware

Renting hardware from Starlink is very straight forward. It essentially just follows the regular ordering process.

First, head over to Starlink’s website, which you can access here. Then type in your address in the search box below and click on ‘Order Now’ afterward.

Starlink

Assuming you are located in an area that offers rentals, you’ll then be presented with the option to either subscribe to the Residential plan (under the tab ‘Own’) or to rent.

Starlink

Simply click on the Rent button (the default is Own) and enter all the required data. Your hardware kit, depending on location, should then arrive within the next two weeks.

2 thoughts on “Starlink Launches Rental Option”

  1. It seems renting is now the only option in Ireland and the UK, which is a shame as at 15e a month, the 300e upfront payment will be surpassed in a little under 2 years. I do believe they’ve brought down their service price to balance this a little, but nonetheless they stand to make more from us in the long run through renting.

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