- BEAD pays the satellite provider, not the household; you choose whether to sign up, and you pay a monthly bill if you do.
- Funded service must reach at least 100 Mbps down and 20 up with latency of 100 ms or less, and standard installation is due within 10 business days of a request.
- Whether funded households get equipment at no cost isn't stated in NTIA's March 2026 FAQ, so ask your state office before buying a kit.
- Several satellite agreements were still unsigned in November 2026, including Starlink's in Oregon.
- Low-orbit satellite won 21.9% of BEAD-funded locations nationwide in the approved plans.
If your address is a BEAD satellite location, BEAD doesn’t pay you anything or put you on a plan. It pays SpaceX or Amazon to offer you service that meets federal rules: at least 100 Mbps down and 20 up, delay of 100 milliseconds or less, and standard installation within 10 business days of your request. You still choose whether to sign up.
Satellite is a big part of the program. In the approved state plans, 21.9% of BEAD-funded locations nationwide went to low-orbit satellite, according to Broadband Breakfast’s August 28, 2026 tally, mostly the most remote and costly places to reach by wire. If yours is one of them, here’s what the rules promise, what they leave open, and who can answer the rest.
Is my address a satellite location?
- Open your state guide. Pick your state on the states page and go to the BEAD section. It links the state’s award map or location list.
- Search your address or county. Some states show funded locations as dots on a map. Others publish a spreadsheet keyed by FCC location ID; you can find yours by looking up your address on the FCC map.
- Read the technology. Satellite is usually labeled “LEO,” “low Earth orbit” or technology code 61. The provider will be Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX, which runs Starlink) or Amazon, listed as Amazon Kuiper or Amazon Leo.
- Check the date on the map or file. Several states trimmed their satellite lists in 2026, so an older list may be out of date. See what changed in each state.
What the federal rules promise
NTIA’s BEAD FAQ (version 19, March 2026) sets terms every funded provider has to meet, satellite included. In plain words:
- Speed and delay. Service at funded locations must reach at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, with latency of 100 milliseconds or less. The FAQ says agreements “may not redefine program terms,” so a state contract can’t quietly lower the bar.
- A start date you can hold them to. Standard installation is due within 10 business days of your request. For equipment you set up yourself, the kit should reach you within ten days.
- Installation fees, but no yard work forced on you. The provider “may charge standard installation fees” but “may not require subscribers to make modifications to their own or surrounding property.”
- Service can’t hinge on your own handiwork. Meeting the rules can’t be “contingent on successful installation by subscribers.”
- The commitment runs for years. New York’s approved Final Proposal describes its satellite “LEO Capacity Subgrants” as running ten years from when the provider certifies service is available. Other states’ project files record satellite end dates from 2027 to 2040, because states log different milestones, so ask your state which date applies.
That last point matters if you’re weighing the offer against something else. A satellite award isn’t a one-time install: the Benton Institute’s reading of the 2025 rules says the provider must also keep enough network capacity for funded locations over the service period.
Will the equipment cost you anything?
NTIA’s March 2026 FAQ doesn’t settle it. The Benton Institute’s June 2025 reading of NTIA’s rules says a BEAD satellite provider must offer funded locations equipment at no cost for the 10-year service period. NTIA’s FAQ version 19 doesn’t contain that sentence.
Until your state confirms the terms in writing, don’t assume it either way. In particular, don’t buy a kit at a store expecting the cost to be refunded later.
What you’ll pay each month
No national BEAD satellite price has been published. Ask your state broadband office three things: what monthly price applies at funded locations, whether it differs from the provider’s regular price, and for how long. The same office can tell you about any lower-cost plan.
Write the answers down with the date and the name of the person who gave them. Prices and offers at regular addresses change often, and a written answer is the only way to know later what was promised to you.
Has your state signed with SpaceX or Amazon?
A provider’s BEAD duties bind once its grant agreement is signed, and after that the state can’t rewrite the deal by itself (why signing matters). The program terms are guarded from the other side too: when SpaceX proposed adding a rider to its BEAD agreements, Fierce Network reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick rejected it with “There will be no rider.”
Here is where satellite agreements stood in the states with news in this site’s records (checked November 3, 2026):
| State | Satellite award | Signed? (latest found) |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | SpaceX, 10,635 locations | Signed Jun 11, 2026 |
| Arkansas | SpaceX, 11,168 locations; Amazon, 1,738 (with anchor institutions) | Amazon signed Jun 11, 2026 (press); the state said in Oct 2026 every agreement was signed |
| Nebraska | SpaceX; Amazon (nearly 1,500 locations) | SpaceX signed by May 22, 2026; Amazon did not sign |
| New Hampshire | SpaceX, 1,105 locations | Signed by Jun 3, 2026 |
| Oregon | SpaceX; Amazon took 5,192 reassigned locations (preliminary) | Starlink missed the signing deadline (news) |
| Michigan | SpaceX and Amazon | Not among the awardees named as signed on Oct 19, 2026 (press) |
| Washington | SpaceX, 29,303; Amazon, 15,029 | Not among the first 7 signed on Sep 24, 2026 |
| Pennsylvania | SpaceX, 9,476; Amazon, 20,408 (provisional) | Not in the Oct 2, 2026 first wave; the state expects the rest by end of 2026 |
| South Carolina | Amazon, 8,888; SpaceX, 1,083 | 4 of 8 agreements signed by Jun 30, 2026; which four isn’t confirmed |
| Texas | SpaceX, 70,422 after an Oct 15, 2026 change | Signing status not confirmed as of Nov 3, 2026 |
Until a satellite agreement is signed, there’s no BEAD contract you can point to at your location, so ask your state office for its status before relying on the rules above.
If Amazon Leo won your area
As of October 25, 2026, Amazon’s Leo site didn’t offer home service in the US. Several state files estimate Amazon’s BEAD projects finishing in 2027, but treat those as estimates. Ask your state office when Amazon expects to serve funded locations, and don’t plan around a date until Amazon publishes one.
Can I choose something else instead?
Yes. BEAD doesn’t sign you up or lock you in. You can keep what you have, or buy any service sold at your address. Nothing in BEAD stops a co-op or a wired provider from building to your road later with other money, either.
If you think your home should have been in a wired project instead, the reasons BEAD drew the lines where it did are in why BEAD skipped my house. To compare what’s on offer at your address today, see every rural option ranked.
What to do now
- Confirm your status on your state’s newest award map or list, and note the date shown on it.
- Ask your state broadband office whether its agreement with SpaceX or Amazon is signed, how households at funded locations sign up, whether equipment comes at no cost, and what the monthly price is.
- Get the answers in writing, with the date.
- Hold off on buying equipment yourself until those answers come back.
Then check back after your state’s next update. Your state guide notes changes to the BEAD list as they’re found.