T-Mobile’s Starlink messaging service is now free to try, even if you aren’t on T-Mobile
T-Mobile’s Starlink-powered direct-to-cell satellite messaging service is now open for anyone in the US to try for free — including people who aren’t T-Mobile customers. The service will be limited to text messaging at first but the company hopes to have some apps and even limited multimedia support ready by the time it goes live this summer.
It will cost T-Mobile users $15 per month once the free testing period ends in July, or $10 for customers who participated in the beta trial. Verizon and AT&T customers can also try the service for free according to T-Mobile’s press release, and will pay $20 a month per line. T-Mobile customers paying for the carrier’s priciest Go5G Next plan (which starts at $105 per month) will have the Starlink feature baked in at no additional cost.
If you watched last night’s Super Bowl, then you might have been misled by T-Mobile’s ad. While it showcased satellite-supported voice and multimedia messaging capabilities, the public beta test only includes texting in dead zones for now. Support for picture messages, data, and voice calls is “coming later.”
Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy, and products told The Washington Post that messages with photos or video clips will be added by the end of the beta period in July. Katz also expects the satellite service to work with apps that “don’t require super-fast data connections,” such as certain trail/mapping services and WhatsApp.
“We’ll be working with a bunch of app manufacturers to create features in their apps that can optimize to the available bandwidth of the satellite network,” Katz said.
Registrations for the free beta opened in December, after T-Mobile and Starlink tested direct-to-cell emergency alerts and texts in disaster zones last year. T-Mobile says it’s accepting users who register on a “rolling first-come, first-served basis,” but quietly discloses that there are “limited spots available” in the fine print. The Starlink-enabled service works on “most smartphones from the last four years” according to T-Mobile, which lists currently compatible devices from Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and REVVL on its website.
SpaceX is partnering with carriers around the world for direct-to-cell Starlink services. In December it launched nationwide in New Zealand. AST SpaceMobile, which is partnering with Verizon and AT&T on their rival satellite-to-cell services, recently received regulatory approval to begin testing.