T-Mobile's Satellite Service Lifts Off, And It's Open Season On Rivals

T-Mobile's Starlink-to-cellphone service is now out of beta – and the company is using the opportunity to woo customers from other providers by offering à la carte satellite services to AT&T and Verizon customers.

Mike Sievert, T-Mobile CEO, announced the official launch of what's now called T-Satellite in a post on X yesterday after entering beta in February.

According to T-Mobile's website and an included set of FAQs, the service is still limited to sending text messages and location information, but there are plans to expand soon.

"We are also rolling out picture and voice messaging to select devices and will continue adding more in the coming months," the FAQ states. The company said it's now working on delivering "satellite data for optimized apps," and while the press release didn't specify what apps are going to be available, T-Mo told us it's working directly with multiple top apps to get their services working via satellite.

"We anticipate satellite enabled apps from AccuWeather, AllTrails, Apple, Google, WhatsApp and X, among many others in the future," a T-Mobile spokesperson told us. The carrier is focusing on apps "in the categories most important to people traveling in parts unknown," the spokesperson added.

As for the price, the stated $15/month cost for the service remains the same, though T-Mobile customers who sign up now can get a temporary $10/month special. There's no indication of whether that discount is permanent. T-Mobile customers interested in signing up can do so via the T-Mobile app.

That temporary discount is also available to non-T-Mobile customers interested in its satellite offering, which it said is available to anyone with an unlocked, satellite-optimized phone with eSIM capabilities. This service can only be added by visiting a T-Mobile store or calling the company at the number provided on the T-Satellite website.

• Will 2025 be the year satellite-to-smartphone services truly take off?
• Satellite phone tech coming to your mobe this year – but who pays for it?
• Starlink starts advertising Direct to Cell satellite phone service as coming in '2024'
• Satellite phone service could soon become the norm

It's no surprise T-Mobile has opened the sat service to rivals' customers given how well the other two major carriers have done at deploying satellite connectivity.

Both Verizon and AT&T have chosen to partner with AST SpaceMobile for their satellite-to-cell offerings, and while AST has satellites in orbit and is able to offer service, it has a paltry five compared to Starlink's more than 650.

Verizon customers are only able to use the service on a select few of the newest devices, while AT&T is still in testing mode for its satellite product.

T-Mobile, in other words, currently has an upper hand in the cell-to-satellite race, and it's more than willing to lean into that fact to try to steal customers. ®

Disclosure: Brandon is a T-Mobile customer, was an early beta tester of T-Satellite, and is a current subscriber to the service add-on. He thinks it's a good lifeline for rural living.