Dish sells Starlink Internet with free hardware and installation

When Sprint was forced to divest of its Boost Mobile subsidiary in order to get the merger with T-Mobile approved, its assets were scooped up by the satellite TV provider Dish.

At the time, Dish had big plans to use the newly acquired spectrum and become America's fourth largest carrier with its own 5G network. T-Mobile's merger with Sprint, however, put it so far ahead of rivals when it comes to 5G network deployment that even stalwarts like Verizon and AT&T fell behind.

Instead of building a 5G network, Dish's parent company EchoStar decided to auction its spectrum and AT&T got $23 billion worth of 50 MHz low-band and 600 MHz and 3.45 GHz spectrum, while Dish became a hybrid MVNO instead, and started to decommission its towers.

SpaceX then paid $19 billion to Dish's EchoStar for more 50 Mhz spectrum and MSS licenses so that it can boost the capacity and speed of its Starink direct-to-cell satellite constellation 100x. The move will now let it become a true T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T competitor as it can beam 5G carrier service from space once it starts launching its big V3 satellites in 2026.

Starlink Internet price at Dish

While Dish's dreams of becoming the next big American cell phone carrier didn't pan out and it became a hybrid MVNO instead, the partnership with its spectrum licensees has now allowed it offer both AT&T and Starlink services.

Dish is now selling Starlink Internet, promising no upfront hardware costs as well as help with installation that its satellite service technicians are well positioned to do. Other than that, the Starlink payment fee is still starting at $80/month for up to 200 Mbps of speed, while the SpaceX satellite Internet service offers 400+ Mbps speeds for $40 more.

Starlink is thinking of offering its cheapest $40/month plan with the Mini dish that is currently discounted by 40% on Amazon, and Dish customers may be able to take advantage of that deal, too.