ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — For years, Ector County ISD families have had access to free Starlink internet thanks to an agreement between SpaceX and ECISD.
SpaceX and Starlink provide internet by sending satellites up to space.
According to ECISD Chief Technology Officer Dr. Kellie Wilks, ECISD started talking to SpaceX in spring of 2020 and officially made a contract with them in January of 2021.
Some families out in the rural parts of Odessa don't have access to a stable internet connection. This problem was highlighted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when students relied more and more on online learning.
This was why ECISD started reaching out to find a partner who could help them with this endeavor, leading them to SpaceX and Starlink.
“After the pandemic, as the pandemic started and pursued, we knew families needed internet service," Dr. Wilks said. "So there are areas of Odessa and Ector County that don't have fiber capabilities or internet service providers available to them, so we engaged with a partner that connected us to Starlink.”
Since the agreement, ECISD families who subscribed to Starlink through ECISD had access to free internet.
The free internet came thanks to donations that helped fund those families.
“They made donations so this was all donated funding," Dr. Wilks said. "Lots of companies wanted to help out after the pandemic to help get families connected. So we raised $300,000 to pay for the first three years of service for those families.”
However, the well of money has dried up, meaning that the Starlink service will no longer be free.
“The donation funding has run out, so that means the satellite internet service has run out as well. We notified families starting in April that the donation was no longer going to pay for their service. so we're helping them move to their own individual satellite service, so they would have to pay for it themselves,” said Dr. Wilks.
Dr. Wilks said the cost of Starlink will be around $110 a month.
ECISD has been trying to help out as best as they can by giving families a heads up when their service expires.
“There's a link, there's a Starlink link. They would basically just change their service [when it] would expire, and then they would offer another payment method," Dr. Wilks said. "We paid for credits in advance and those credits have run out. So now when it expires, they (Starlink) provide the link and they (the customer) put their credit card in and the service continues.”