Terms of service

1. Who these terms are with

These terms apply when you browse welcome.online, create a WELCOME account, redeem an access code, or buy or use WELCOME internet access.

For WELCOME Maritime, your seller and contracting party is Elcome International Holdings Ltd, The Core, Valley Road, Msida MSD 9021, Malta. If a checkout or order confirmation names another seller for a different WELCOME edition, that seller is your contracting party for that order.

These terms, the plan information shown at checkout, any contract summary, and the order confirmation form the agreement. A negotiated vessel, fleet, reseller, or business agreement takes priority for the matters it covers.

2. Before a contract starts

You can review available plans without an account. Before you buy, we show the seller, plan, total price including applicable taxes, data or time allowance, speed tier, validity, activation, renewal, payment method, and any plan-specific limits.

Where electronic communications law requires it, we also provide a concise contract summary in a form you can download or keep. The contract takes effect only after you receive the required information and explicitly confirm the order. We then accept the order by issuing a confirmation or activating the plan. If we cannot accept it, we refund any amount taken.

You must provide accurate information and be legally able to enter the contract. If local law does not allow you to contract on your own, an authorised adult must buy or provide the access code.

3. Plans, access codes, and usage

• Data packs provide a stated volume until it is used or expires.
• Time passes provide access for the stated continuous period after activation.
• Monthly or daily-allowance plans provide the allowance and reset pattern shown at checkout.
• Speed upgrades change the applicable speed tier for the stated period.
• Access codes carry the plan and validity shown by the seller or issuer. They have no cash value unless law requires otherwise and must not be guessed, copied, sold, or transferred without permission.

Plan timing uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) unless the checkout says otherwise. Uploads and downloads both count where the plan is volume-based. A plan may be limited to one device or require you to release one device before connecting another. The dashboard is the current record of allowance and expiry; contact support promptly if it appears wrong.

Access is limited to the user, device, vessel, site, and territory authorised by the plan. Do not extend the connection beyond the registered vessel or site, use it as third-party backhaul, or share it commercially unless a written WELCOME agreement allows that use.

Plans do not renew automatically unless the checkout clearly says that they do and asks you to agree. You can stop a recurring plan using the method shown in the account or by contacting support.

4. Payment, withdrawal, and refunds

Prices are shown in the checkout currency with the total due before you confirm. A payment provider handles the card, wallet, or local payment method. You authorise the provider and us to take the displayed amount. We may refuse or reverse a transaction where payment fails, the order is duplicated, or fraud or legal restrictions are reasonably suspected.

If you are an EU or EEA consumer buying at a distance, you may have a 14-day withdrawal right. When you ask us to activate immediately, you expressly request performance during that period. If the service is fully performed, the withdrawal right may end after your express consent and acknowledgement. If you withdraw after performance has started but before it is complete, the law may require you to pay for the part already supplied.

Plan-specific cancellation and refund rules are shown before purchase. They never reduce a mandatory remedy for a service that was not supplied, was materially different from the contract, or was affected by a recurring quality failure established under applicable law. Contact help@elcome.com with the order reference.

5. Service performance and network management

WELCOME is a shared Wi-Fi service carried over satellite. Actual availability, latency, and download and upload speed vary with the plan, site capacity, number of users, location, weather, field of view, vessel movement, power, local Wi-Fi conditions, your device, Starlink network demand, maintenance, and regulatory authorisation. An advertised “up to” figure is an estimated maximum for the described service, not a minimum or a promise to each device.

Data limits and speed tiers can affect high-volume or real-time activities such as large downloads, cloud backups, high-resolution streaming, gaming, and video calls. When an allowance ends, access may stop or continue at the reduced speed stated in the plan.

We treat equivalent traffic equally. We may use transparent, proportionate traffic management to enforce the plan, share constrained capacity, protect security and network integrity, reduce congestion, comply with law, or respond to an emergency. We do not use paid prioritisation to favour particular websites or apps. Measures that go beyond ordinary plan enforcement last only as long as the reason requires.

If actual performance is continuously or regularly materially below the contractual information, report it with the site, time, device, and test details. We will investigate and provide any repair, price reduction, refund, or termination right required by law.

6. Not for safety-of-life or emergency use

Internet access can fail without warning. Use the vessel's approved safety, navigation, and emergency systems and follow crew instructions. WELCOME does not replace emergency communications and may not connect a call to local emergency services or transmit your location to them.

7. Acceptable use

You must not use WELCOME, or help another person use it, to:

• break the law, infringe intellectual property or privacy, harass, exploit, or harm another person;
• send spam, distribute malware, attack systems, probe without permission, evade security, or interfere with another user's service;
• access, create, or distribute unlawful content, including child sexual abuse material;
• circumvent a plan limit, hide unauthorised use, manipulate metering, or use stolen payment details or access codes;
• operate or support offensive or defensive weapons, prohibited military end uses, or prohibited control of drones or other autonomous systems;
• resell, rebroadcast, or commercially share access unless a written WELCOME agreement expressly allows it; or
• use the service, equipment, or location in breach of applicable sanctions, export controls, territorial restrictions, or in-motion authorisations.

The current Starlink Acceptable Use Policy and Fair Use Policy also apply to use of the underlying Starlink service. We may take proportionate steps to investigate, limit, block, or suspend a breach.

8. Starlink's role

WELCOME uses Starlink as the underlying satellite network. Starlink coverage, capacity, policies, equipment, approvals, and service decisions can affect WELCOME. The Starlink Maritime Terms and other relevant policies are available on the Starlink Malta legal page.

Do not move, cover, paint, repair, disassemble, or modify a Starlink terminal, mount, or WELCOME gateway. Elcome and the vessel operator are responsible for approved equipment, installation, and authorisation for the vessel and territory.

Starlink does not provide direct support to WELCOME users. Contact us, not Starlink. Starlink's network policies apply only to the underlying connectivity and do not remove rights you have against your WELCOME seller. The contract summary or order confirmation will identify the applicable network-policy version or provide a copy you can keep. A later change to a linked policy does not alter a completed purchase without the notice and rights required by law. If a Starlink policy conflicts with these terms, it controls use of the Starlink layer only to the extent legally permitted. Mandatory law always prevails.

9. Accounts and device security

Keep sign-in links, passwords, payment devices, and access codes secure. Tell support promptly about suspected misuse. You are responsible for activity you authorise and for reasonable steps to secure your device, but you are not responsible for charges or activity that mandatory consumer law assigns to us or a payment provider.

Public Wi-Fi and the internet carry security risks. Prefer encrypted websites and apps, keep software current, and use your organisation's approved security tools where applicable. We cannot control third-party websites, apps, content, or transactions reached through the service.

10. Suspension and ending service

We may suspend or end access where reasonably necessary for a serious or repeated breach, non-payment, fraud, security risk, legal order, sanctions or territorial restriction, loss of regulatory authorisation, Starlink suspension, maintenance, or a technical issue that prevents service. We will give notice and a reasonable chance to fix the issue where practical and lawful. Urgent safety, security, fraud, or legal action may be immediate.

When we end a paid plan for our convenience, we will give reasonable notice where possible and provide the refund or alternative required by the contract and law. Ending access does not erase terms that logically continue, such as payment already due, privacy, intellectual property, complaints, and liability.

11. Changes to service or terms

We may update WELCOME, these terms, or incorporated network policies for product, security, legal, regulatory, or operational reasons. For a materially adverse change to an ongoing contract, we will give at least one month's notice where applicable law requires it and explain any right to end the affected service without extra cost. Shorter notice may apply where a binding legal or urgent security requirement leaves no reasonable alternative.

A change does not rewrite a completed one-off purchase retroactively. The effective date at the top identifies the website version.

12. Responsibility when something goes wrong

We are responsible for loss that is a foreseeable result of our breach or failure to use reasonable care. We are not responsible for loss caused by matters outside our reasonable control, by your breach, or by third-party content and services we do not control.

If you use WELCOME as a consumer, we do not exclude or limit liability where the law forbids it, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, deliberate misconduct, or mandatory rights and remedies.

If you use WELCOME wholly for business purposes, neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss or for lost profit, revenue, business, goodwill, or anticipated savings, to the extent the law permits. Any separate fleet or business agreement may set a different allocation of risk.

13. Accessibility

WELCOME is designed so customers can obtain service information, buy access, authenticate, pay, and request help using common browsers, keyboard navigation, zoom and reflow, semantic headings, text alternatives, and assistive technologies. Support can provide key plan, contract, and troubleshooting information in another accessible format where reasonably possible and where law requires it.

If an access need prevents you from using the portal or support, contact us by email or WhatsApp and describe the adjustment or format that would help. See Accessibility and privacy help. This statement describes our approach and is not a claim that every combination of device and assistive technology is fully conformant.

14. Governing law and complaints

These terms are governed by Maltese law. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protections and court rights that the mandatory law of your home country gives you. Maltese courts have jurisdiction, but this does not stop a consumer from bringing a claim in another court available under mandatory law.

Start with help@elcome.com so we can investigate. Consumers may then refer an unresolved internet-service complaint to the Malta Communications Authority where it has jurisdiction or ask the MCCAA ADR service about an out-of-court process. ADR participation depends on the applicable rules and the parties' agreement. Other remedies available by law remain open. The former EU Online Dispute Resolution platform closed in 2025 and is not part of this process.

15. General terms and contact

WELCOME, its software, branding, and website content belong to Elcome or its licensors. You may use them only as needed to receive the service. Starlink marks belong to Starlink or its licensors.

If one term is unenforceable, it will be adjusted or removed only as far as necessary; the rest continue. A delay in enforcing a term is not a waiver. You may not transfer the contract without consent, except where mandatory law allows. We may transfer it as part of a genuine business reorganisation if your rights are not reduced.