Glossary
The words you’ll meet, in plain English
Every term on your Starlink bill and in the referral rules that matters for the free month. Examples are made up and labeled.
30-day trial / return window
Your right to return a kit bought on starlink.com within 30 days of the Payment Due Date for a full refund. It isn't a free trial, and it isn't the free month.
Starlink's terms call it the 'initial trial period'. You pay as normal. If you send the kit back undamaged within 30 days of your Payment Due Date, you're refunded the equipment (or, for a rental, the activation price) and the first month's fee. It protects you if Starlink doesn't work where you live. You don't get service for free.
Activation
The moment your kit first connects and your service goes live. It's often the day your billing starts.
Activation happens when you set up the kit and it connects. If you activate before the 7-day mark after delivery, the activation day becomes your Payment Due Date. Starlink's help page describes month 1 and activation as part of confirming the referral is genuine.
Billing cycle
The month between two Starlink bills. Yours starts on your Payment Due Date and repeats on the same day each month.
Starlink doesn't bill on the 1st of the month. Your first charge comes on your Payment Due Date (see below), and each later bill comes on the same day of the month after that. One billing cycle is the time from one bill to the next.
Hypothetical example
your Payment Due Date is March 12. Bill 1 is March 12, bill 2 is April 12, bill 3 is May 12.
Eligible plan
A plan that can carry the referral free month: the Residential plans and the Roam plans that Starlink lists.
Starlink's help page names Residential Lite, Residential, Residential 100 Mbps, Residential 200 Mbps, Residential Max, Roam 100GB, Roam 300GB and Roam Unlimited. Business and other plans aren't on that list. Starlink also shows the eligible plans at sign-up.
Kit rental
Renting the dish and router instead of buying them. Press reports say new Residential orders are rentals now.
With a rental, the kit stays Starlink's property. You must send it back in good condition within 30 days of cancelling, or you pay its full price. Some rental kits can't use Standby Mode. Whether the free month also covers a rental fee isn't stated anywhere we can find.
Payment Due Date
The day your first bill is charged: the day you activate, 7 days after delivery, or 30 days after shipping, whichever comes first.
Starlink's Terms of Service set your first charge on whichever comes first: the day you activate the kit, 7 days after it's delivered, or 30 days after it ships if there's no delivery date. Every later bill falls on the same day of the month. The 30-day return window also counts from this date.
Hypothetical example
the kit arrives on a Monday and you set it up that Wednesday. Your Payment Due Date is the Wednesday, because activation came before the 7-day mark.
Referral free month
One month of service on your plan, free, for a new customer who orders on starlink.com through a current customer's referral link.
It's the new customer's side of Starlink's referral program. You order through someone's unique referral link and pay month 1 as normal. Month 2 is then credited back on your second bill. There's no code to type, and it doesn't make the kit cheaper.
Referrer
The current customer whose link you used. They get their own reward. Your free month doesn't depend on which reward they pick.
The referrer is an existing customer on a Residential or Roam plan. Starlink gives them a reward once you've stayed two full billing cycles. You still get your free month even if they take their reward as cash.
Same browser session
Opening the referral link and finishing the order in one browser on one device, without switching apps or devices.
A referral link is how starlink.com knows who sent you. If you open it on your phone and then order on a laptop, or move into the app, that connection may not come along. Starlink doesn't publish how it tracks this, so the safe habit is one browser, start to finish.
Service credit
Money Starlink puts on your account that comes off a future bill. The free month arrives as a credit, not as a refund to your card.
A service credit is a balance on your Starlink account, not cash. The free month is applied as a credit and taken off your second monthly bill. Nothing is paid back to your card.
Hypothetical example
your plan is one month's fee. Bill 2 shows the plan fee and then a credit line of the same size, so the plan part of that bill comes to zero.
Standby Mode
A low-speed 'pause' for a small monthly fee. It doesn't count as a high-speed plan, so it can stop a referral from completing.
Standby keeps your account alive at very low speed for a small monthly fee. Starlink's referral terms say the two full billing cycles must be on a high-speed plan, and Standby is excluded. Standby also isn't offered on promotional offers or some rental kits.
Unique referral link
A personal starlink.com web address that each current customer gets. Ordering through it is what attaches the free month to your order.
Every customer on a Residential or Roam plan has their own link, found in their account under Referrals. When you open it, starlink.com knows who sent you. Starlink's terms say no other way of being referred counts.