Summary
One of the most awaited developments in carrier technology as of lately is satellite service. T-Mobile has been hard at work putting its own satellite service together to eliminate dead spots for good. Now, it’s finally properly out.
T-Mobile is commercially launching its satellite-to-mobile service, namedT-Satellite, which will provide coverage to over 500,000 square miles of the United States currently unreachable by terrestrial cell towers. This move, in partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink, will make T-Mobile the first US wireless provider to offer a satellite network that connects directly to most modern smartphones without the need for special equipment or antennas.
The service will make use of more than 657 Starlink direct-to-cell satellites to provide connectivity in areas where traditional service from any carrier, including Verizon and AT&T, is non-existent. It has been in testing for a while. At first, it saw limited rollouts in natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, in an attempt to maximize connectivity for affected people. From there, a beta program for T-Satellite was rolled out, and it saw significant usage, with nearly 1.8 million users, including customers from competing carriers. During the beta phase, over a million messages were sent from remote locations such as national parks and oil fields, according to T-Mobile.
Right now, T-Satellite supports SMS messaging on Android and iOS, with MMS also being supported for Android folks. According to T-Mobile, data services will be coming before the end of the year, by October 1st. T-Mobile is collaborating with app developers to optimize their apps for satellite connectivity. Initial partners are expected to include AccuWeather, AllTrails, Google, and WhatsApp. This is a necessary step—as much as it’s technically impressive, satellite data won’t be amazing or nearly as reliable as ground towers, and some might face disruptions with some apps or services trying to use it.
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