The recent Super Bowl brought with it lots of surprises and, once again, a few of them came from the very pricey ads shown during the broadcast. One of the most intriguing was T-Mobile’s spot describing free satellite smartphone service available to customers of any major wireless carrier, including AT&T and Verizon (as well as T-Mobile, of course).
In other words, T-Mobile — in conjunction with satellite provider Starlink — is essentially introducing satellite service when you’re in an area without traditional cellular service to just about anyone in the US with a mobile phone that’s not more than about 4 years old.
There is, not surprisingly, some fine print to the offer, however.
Most importantly, you have to sign up for the limited number of spots that T-Mobile is making available for the free trial beta test. If you do get in, you’ll have access to free text messaging, location sharing and 911 emergency text services through June in remote “dead zones” that don’t have traditional cellular service. After the commercial service launches in July, you’ll pay $15 a month if you’re an existing T-Mobile customer (only $10/month if you sign up for the beta in February) or $20 a month if you’re with AT&T or Verizon. For customers of T-Mobile’s high-end Go5G Next plan (priced at $105/month), the satellite service will be bundled for free.
More Starlink news:Apple iPhone to support Starlink direct-to-cell coverage in US
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Note that AT&T and Verizon customers do not have to change their existing cellular plans, nor will it change how and where those work. This T-Mobile service will essentially sit on top of those services and only kick in when needed — when you’re off the grid.
As mentioned, the initial service will be limited to basic text messages and location info, but voice calls, texts with images and data support for a certain number of applications are being developed. Don’t expect to be able to do bandwidth-heavy things like stream YouTube or Netflix videos from a remote mountaintop — at least not for a while. Instead, you’ll likely be able to run things like messaging apps, mapping apps and other low data rate applications as data support is enabled.
How it works
The way the service works is once you go outside of traditional cellular network range, your phone essentially switches over to a new satellite network powered by the 450 or so Starlink satellites you may have noticed flying overhead over the last few months. (No, those long strings of lights way up in the sky are not UFOs…)
Part of the reason why T-Mobile can make this offer to AT&T and Verizon customers is that the satellite network — technically called a non-terrestrial network, or NTN — is completely different and independent from existing cellular networks that each of the carriers maintain. As a result, it’s the same process to switch over to it, regardless of your primary cellular carrier.
When you do connect, you’ll get a text message from T-Mobile saying you’re connected to the satellite network and a new connection icon at the top of your phone’s screen. Once you do, you’ll be able to both send and receive basic text messages. When you get back into regular coverage, you’ll switch back to your normal cellular service.
Behind the scenes, what’s happening is that the Starlink satellites make a connection with a chip inside your phone called a modem. Many modern phones incorporate circuitry within them that can communicate directly with satellites and the Starlink satelllites also can connect to some older phones that don’t have satellite-specific modems.
It’s crazy to think about, but yes, thanks to these modem chips from companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek that control connections to cell towers, the smartphone in your pocket also can connect directly with low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites flying 17,500 miles an hour located 340 miles up in the air — as long as your phone has direct sight of the sky.
Given that incredible distance, basic physics will explain that the signals being exchanged with satellites are only a tiny fraction as strong as those used for regular cellular networks. That’s why it’s difficult to do more data intensive applications and why satellite service won’t ever replace traditional cellular networks but instead serve as a supplement to them.
The complete list of phones that have the necessary software to work with the service can be found here, but it basically includes all iPhones from the iPhone 14 onward, all Samsung Galaxy phones from the A14 and S21 onward, the Z Flip and Z Fold 3 and forward, the new Google Pixel 9s, and the 2024 versions of the Motorola razr, edge and moto g phones.
T-Mobile customers will not have to make any configuration changes on their phones for the service to work. For people on AT&T or Verizon, you’ll have to have an unlocked phone with the latest software updates and create an eSIM profile (not as hard as it sounds) with a new number that T-Mobile will provide to use as part of this service. Thankfully, once that’s set up, the phone will automatically switch back and forth between your regular number and profile and the new one when it switches to the satellite connection. In other words, using the service should be completely seamless.
It’s also important to note that this new T-Mobile/Starlink offering is different than some of the other satellite-based services that have already been introduced to the market. So, Apple’s Satellite service, for example, will still be available for those who have signed up for it, but it connects to a different set of satellites (Globalstar in Apple’s case) and, over time, may have a different set of capabilities and prices. In theory, you could sign up for both satellite services on a single iPhone, but it won’t make much sense to do so.
In addition, both AT&T and Verizon made announcements last year and previewed some of their own satellite offerings being done in conjunction with other satellite providers (AST SpaceMobile and Skylo, respectively). Neither of them are widely available yet, however, so it remains to be seen how they will compare.
Providing connectivity in areas where it’s never been available before will be incredibly useful for a lot of people, as well as reassuring for their family members. Of course, it also means it’s getting harder and harder to be truly disconnected for those who want to do so, but that’s a topic for another day.
Regardless, this new satellite service represents a very impressive accomplishment from T-Mobile and Starlink and highlights how far mobile technology has come. As with the early days of cellular, it’s bound to seem like magic at first, but will soon be very normal.
USA TODAY columnist Bob O’Donnell is the president and chief analyst ofTECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter@bobodtech.
