T-Mobile has a landing page announcing the intention to launch a beta rest in early 2025 using SpaceX’s Starlink for service. You can currently join an interest list for the beta, with initial testing expected to me text messaging only but later included voice and text via satellite. As someone who lives in a rural area, I signed up for this trial right away.
The Deal
- T-Mobile is offering the chance to register interest for a beta test of T-Mobile Starlink satellite service, with a limited number of beta testers expected to start out with satellite-powered messaging, to be followed by data and voice in the future.
- Direct link to registration
Quick Thoughts
I’ve long been a T-Mobile customer and the free line promotions that we wrote about during the pandemic (like this one, this one, this one and this one) combined with the Insider hookup deal we wrote about and the 5GB of free international data per billing cycle (that works in 200+ countries) that’s included on all of my lines with my plan along with free in-flight WiFi on a couple of airlines are likely to keep me loyal to T-Mobile for a long time. It’s just a perfect fit as a frequent traveler (which is particularly true because of all of those free line promos I picked up — I now have 4 paid lines and 5 “free” lines and get 20% off for life, so my cell service costs about $128 for 9 lines of unlimited high-speed data (with no throttle cap), 40GB of high speed hotspot per month per line, and 5GB per billing cycle per line of high-speed international data. It’s hard to beat, but also impossible to get for the same price at the moment if you didn’t jump on those deals when we wrote about them.
The main drawback of T-Mobile for me is that I live in a very rural area. I get good service at home and within a couple miles of home, but within 10 miles in any direction, I lose service entirely for some amount of time.
So I was interested in signing up for this beta right away given the chance to get satellite-based cell signal. I recently upgraded to a Pixel 9 Pro phone and have noticed that it connects to satellite when out of regular cell range for the purposes of making an emergency call if necessary, but I hadn’t anticipated T-Mobile going for satellite service via Starlink.
Interestingly, the landing page notes that most modern smartphones are capable of catching a satellite signal. I don’t know how broadly true that statement is, but I do know that our current phones are compatible.
As noted above, the beta test is initially going to be for messaging only, through fine print indicates that they eventually intend to offer voice and data via satellite.
The beta test period will be free for those selected, but it sounds like T-mobile will likely offer Starlink-based service for a fee in the long-run. Whether it becomes an entirely different plan or an add-on I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out. Still, I imagine that the additional coverage possible with Starlink satellites would really expand T-Mobile’s network and likely give it some competitive advantage.
To sign up for the trial, you’ll need to have your name, email address, and to verify your phone number. I did this separately for my wife and I (and for our third line) and encouraged another family member to sign up as well). There’s no guarantee that you’ll be selected, but if it sounds interesting I would recommend signing up for the beta test sooner rather than later since it sounds like they intend to begin in early 2025.
H/T: Slickdeals
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How is your phone service while traveling using T-Mobile? We use T-Mobile via Consumer Cellular and while text and data works, voice calling does not most of the time (it seems random when it does). CC says it’s tower dependent.
Technically, the Pixel 5 and later models are hardware compatible with satellite services. And, OS 15 affords software compatibility. Whether older models can upgrade to OS 15 is another subject. But, of those that can, Google has enabled software compatibility only on the Pixel 9 (for the time being).
Technically, “most modern cellphones” are satellite compatible . . . at some level. Apple made a technology choice regarding satellite services. That choice affords a much smaller signal bandwidth and a smaller set of capabilities. I have to believe that Apple will upgrade that capability eventually. On the other hand, Google made the wise technology choice and has the upper leg with this capability . . . for now.
Why is this a referral link?
Thanks for the comment! I had forgotten to add a hat tip to Slickdeals (which is where I found it, now added) and I had copied the link from my browser, which must have been their affiliate link for T-Mobile (since edited). Just an oversight there. I appreciate your comment so I could get it fixed.