T-Mobile is offering its Starlink satellite texting feature for free until July
T-Mobile's Starlink satellite texting feature is now available in beta for anyone with a compatible iPhone or Android device to try out, the company announced in a Super Bowl ad. The new feature provides mobile 4G or 5G coverage in areas not covered by regular cell phone towers, and you can sign up for it even if you're on another carrier like Verizon or AT&T.
The service will be available for free until July to approved beta testers, though limited spots are available. After that, customers of T-Mobile's high-end offerings like the $180 Go5G Next plan will receive the feature at no cost. Other T-Mobile customers can add the service for $15 per month, or $10 per month if they sign up before the end of February. Users of other carriers will be charged $20 per month starting in July (T-Mobile didn't explain exactly how that would work).
In August last year, T-Mobile and Elon Musk's SpaceX announced a collaboration that would allow the carrier's subscribers to connect to Starlink's second-gen satellites for coverage even from the most remote locations. The service works with standard mobile phones, but only recent, compatible models including the Apple iPhone 14 series and later, all Google Pixel 9 models, the Samsung Galaxy S21 and later, Galaxy Flip3 and Fold3 or later and others.
If you have such a device, are enrolled in the T-Mobile Starlink beta and find yourself in an area of the US without regular cell phone coverage, you should be able to connect to a satellite and send someone a simple text message. Starlink support for voice calls and data is coming later, T-Mobile said.
T-Mobile and Starlink sent and received the first text messages using satellites back in January 2024. In the months that followed, the FCC had given them permission to enable satellite texting in certain locations so that people could stay connected in hurricane-hit areas. Now, anyone can try it, but it would be best to apply soon given the limited spots.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/t-mobile-is-offering-its-starlink-satellite-texting-feature-for-free-until-july-130044054.html?src=rss