If you’re the kind of person who goes on extra long road trips, or you’re the type of person who likes to walk way off the beaten path, then you have likely found yourself in situations where you’re too far from a cell tower, and you can’t get cellular service. For most people, that doesn’t constitute an emergency, but sometimes it can.
Fortunately, that should be less of a worry with T-Mobile and Starlink’s collaboration to bring direct-to-device satellite service to your mobile phone. That breaks you free of the limitations of cell towers. The service isn’t fully launched, but its public beta has just been unveiled. The best part is it is open to everyone, even AT&T and Verizon users.
Want to Test Out T-Mobile’s New Service? You Can Now, Regardless of Your Carrier
We’ve been hearing a lot about T-Mobile and Starlink’s new service. Instead of forcing your phone to rely on cell towers, which can be notably insufficient when you find yourself out of range of any of them, special Starlink satellites will be able to connect directly to your smartphone. This will make it possible to stay connected even in what would usually be a cellular dead zone. All you need is an open sky.
The service is yet to be properly available, but the company has been testing it out. However, that testing is about to get much wider. The carrier has launched a public beta that will allow everyone—and they mean everyone—to try out the new service. That includes people using rival carriers like Verizon and AT&T. That’s a good way to entice them over to T-Mobile’s side of business.
In the United States, there are over 500,000 square miles of land without any cellular service. Theoretically, this service should cover that entire deficit in an instant. If this service ends up being exactly as described, I reckon this will serve as one of the most game-changing moments in telecommunications. It’s hard to imagine that major carriers across the world won’t do what they can to deploy their own variants.
Here’s What You Need to Know About Getting on the Beta Program
If you’re interested in hopping onto T-Mobile’s new public beta, there are only a few things that you’re going to have to keep in mind. For one, if you’re on any other carrier besides T-Mobile, you need a device that supports eSIMs and is not locked to the carrier you’re using. T-Mobile will provide a line for these users to facilitate access to the service.
Before you get too excited, the service will only support text messaging in its current form. However, there are plans to expand the capabilities of this satellite service to voice calls and, eventually, data.
This beta is currently free for everyone until July. However, after that, most users will be charged. For those who use Go5G Next, it’ll still be free. However, for each line on other plans, it’ll come to $15 per month. Users on other carriers will have to pay $20 a month, according to Mobile World Live.
