Starlink outs first referral program with free subscription bonus

SpaceX is starting a Starlink referral campaign that gives away a free month of service to both those who send the referral link, and those who activate a subscription with it.

The first Starlink referral program coincides with its first job listings for a dedicated Starlink store, which will aim to bring the retail experience to potential satellite Internet subscribers away from the big chains like Walmart or Best Buy.

Now that SpaceX is preparing to launch its high-capacity V3 satellites that are the size of a Boeing 737 when unfurled and offer 10x the throughput of the current V2 crop, it also wants to spearhead Starlink "adoption" to take advantage of all that excess capacity it will be building.

Starlink referral program bonus

The new Starlink referral promo will gift one month of free service, or up to $120 value, to both the referring and those who sign up for a subscription. Only subscribers to the Residential plan will be able to cash in on the promo, leaving those who want a cheaper Residential Lite subscription with throttled data in the wind.

Those who sign up for the Roam plan delivered via a Starlink Mini dish can also receive the free service month referral bonus, though. In the Starlink app, those eligible for referrals can go to their Account tab and click on the "Free month for you and them" section to generate and share a link with their neighbors, friends, or extended family. Alternatively, this can be done on the Starlink website by clicking on the "Referrals" section, too.

After a signup with the referral link, the referring Starlink customer will get an email confirmation and a free service credit within 30 days of the new account's activation, valid for the next billing period. In certain underserved regions in the US where Starlink is running a dish and service discount promo, its satellite Internet service can now be started for as little as an $89 initial outlay, as can be seen below.

Unfortunately, referrals have to be done within the same country, and a Standard or Mini kit purchased from third-party retailers won't qualify, only those obtained through Starlink online or, potentially, from its upcoming retail stores.

SpaceX recently asked the FCC to expand its constellation launch permit from 12,000 to 44,000 satellites, as it is on the way to build a robust gigabit network. This includes 15,000 direct-to-cell satellites that would team up to beam 5G data to phones with dedicated Starlink connectivity chips directly, so SpaceX will need all the Starlink referrals it can get to sign up customers for all that giant capacity expansion.