“While not yet ready for full commercial service, T-Mobile Starlink was turned on temporarily to provide a critical communication option for those without any other means to reach emergency responders and loved ones during Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” the carrier said. “Even without the full constellation in place, customers with capable devices were able to receive critical emergency alerts and send and receive messages when satellites were overhead.”
T-Mobile said the Starlink-enabled service will be “much more user friendly” than previous satellite phone services. The carrier said “users will not need to hold their phone up to search for a signal. Both inbound and outbound messages are sent and received just like any other message.”
T-Mobile also said there are parts of the US where it will likely never offer coverage from cell towers. T-Mobile Starlink will “mak[e] the phone in your pocket work in areas of the US that have never, and probably never will, have ground based coverage,” said T-Mobile President of Marketing, Strategy and Products Mike Katz.
SpaceX and T-Mobile announced their plan for satellite-to-phone coverage in August 2022. Starlink launched its first cellular-capable satellites in January 2024 and obtained Federal Communications Commission approval to provide service to cell phones in November 2024. SpaceX has a spectrum lease agreement with T-Mobile that covers the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
SpaceX is still seeking a waiver of rules on out-of-band emission limits, saying the waiver is needed to provide reliable real-time communications with voice and video. AT&T and Verizon urged the FCC to reject that request, and the FCC last month deferred its decision.
AT&T and Verizon both intend to offer similar service through deals with satellite operator AST SpaceMobile.