(Credit: Starlink.com)
SpaceX might be expanding its "free" Starlink Mini rental offer to all US users on a Residential plan, rather than keeping it exclusive to Residential Max subscribers.
On Monday, a customer in New York reported receiving an email from SpaceX about the deal, despite being on the lower-tier Residential 100Mbps plan. “Claim your Starlink Mini,” the email says; the dish usually costs between $199 to $249 to own.
The email also offers a 20% discount for using the Mini dish with the required Starlink Roam plan. Residential Max subscribers get a 50% discount, and the email notes that you'll be bumped to 50% if you upgrade to Residential Max.
“I've been on it [Residential 100Mbps] since April of 2026 and I did accept the Mini offer right away,” the customer told PCMag. Another Facebook user who just subscribed to Residential 100Mbps also reports receiving the same email.
A revised Starlink.com document for an “Optional Mini Kit for Travel” no longer says the perk is only available with an active Residential Max plan; it now says "active Residential plan."
The page also notes: “The lowered Roam rate depends on your Residential plan. Your Roam rate will change accordingly if you upgrade or downgrade your Residential service plan.” So, subscribers on the Residential 200Mbps plan will likely receive a discount between 20% and 50%. That said, the other parts of Starlink.com haven’t advertised the free Mini perk for the other Residential plans, making it look like the perk remains exclusive to Max.
So far, SpaceX hasn’t responded to a request for comment. But the company initially introduced the Mini as a special feature in January while debuting Residential Max, the new top-tier home internet plan for consumers. Subscribers could opt in and get the Mini as a free rental so long as they stayed on the Max plan, and kept their Mini dish on a Roam or Standby mode plan. The company also briefly halted the perk this summer before reviving it.
We wonder if SpaceX is expanding the perk to clear out the inventory of the original Mini dish. The company has previously teased a second-generation Mini that looks even slimmer and might include a built-in battery, something missing from the current version. But so far, SpaceX hasn't revealed when it'll launch or how much it'll cost.
In the meantime, the Starlink support page says: “If you are eligible, Starlink will email you a ‘Claim Mini’ button. Complete the short survey in that email to redeem. If you have not received the redemption email and believe you are eligible, contact support.”
About Our Expert
I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.
Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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