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News · Returns and trial

Starlink republished its US Terms of Service on 2026-08-06: the parts that touch the free month

Starlink's US Terms of Service carry a 2026-08-06 date. Starlink doesn't list the edits. We checked the billing and return clauses this site relies on.

Returns and trial

Event
Published
Timeline under the Terms of Service dated 2026-08-06: kit ships, Payment Due Date charges month one, return window ends 30 days later, bill two carries the free-month credit.
What changed?
Starlink's US legal-documents list shows the Terms of Service (DOC-1020-91087-64) published 2026-08-06. Starlink doesn't publish a list of edits, and we don't hold the earlier version, so we can't say what changed. We re-read the clauses this site relies on.
When?
Published 2026-08-06 by Starlink. Read by us 2026-10-05. Effective date: not stated separately on the page we read.
Who is affected?
Every US customer. For free-month readers, the return window, the Payment Due Date and the cancellation timing are the parts that matter.
What should you do now?
Before ordering, note how your Payment Due Date is set and that the 30-day return window starts from it, not from delivery.
What stays the same?
As we read the 2026-08-06 text: your first charge comes on the earliest of activation, 7 days after delivery, or 30 days after shipping; later bills come on the same day each month; to avoid a month's charge you must cancel before that invoice is generated; and an undamaged kit bought on starlink.com can be returned within 30 days of the Payment Due Date for a full refund, including the first month's fee. Shipping and handling are not refunded.

Source

What we can and can't tell you

The only primary-source fact here is the date. Starlink's legal page lists the US Terms of Service with a 2026-08-06 publish date. We can't produce a before-and-after, because we don't have a dated copy of the previous version. If you have one, the corrections page tells you how to send it.

The clauses we checked

Payment Due Date. The first charge comes on the earliest of: the day you activate, 7 days after delivery, or 30 days after shipping if there's no delivery date. Later bills come on that same day each month.

Returns. A kit bought on starlink.com can be returned within 30 days of the Payment Due Date for a full refund, including the first month's fee. Shipping charges are not refunded. A rented kit has to go back within 30 days of cancelling or you are charged its full price.

Cancelling. To avoid next month's charge, cancel before that invoice is generated.

These line up with our free trial page and our date calculator. The glossary defines each term.

How it fits with the free month

The free month lives in a different document, the Referral Program Terms, which Starlink republished on 2026-10-03 (see our post on that). Returning the kit inside 30 days refunds month one, but you then never reach bill two, so there is no free month to credit.

What we don’t know yet

  • What was edited in the 2026-08-06 version.
  • Whether the edits affect any clause we did not re-read for this post.

Sources

  1. Starlink Terms of Service, US (sections 3, 6.2 and 6.3) StarlinkRead · published
  2. How do I return my Starlink kit? (Starlink help center) StarlinkRead · page last changed

Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it in the open.

Corrections

No corrections to this post. If something here is wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it in the open, with a dated note.

Where to next

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