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T-Mobile will officially launch its public Starlink satellite service on Wednesday, July 23. Currently in beta testing, the service will be available for any mobile phone user with a compatible device, including AT&T and Verizon subscribers.
In its Monday news release, the Uncarrier explained what Starlink will offer. From the get-go, iOS and Android users alike will be able to send SMS text messages. Other features include MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), picture messaging, and short audio clips. Initially, these richer options will be accessible only to Android users, but iOS support will follow.
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T-Mobile will also provide Starlink subscribers with 911 texting via satellite. Later in the year, that capability will expand to any mobile user with a compatible device, even customers on other carriers and those who don't subscribe to Starlink.
Starting Oct. 1, the service will finally be able to handle data. To do that, T-Mobile is working with a few third-party providers to let you use their programs while connected to Starlink. The list focuses on apps you'd most need while traveling in unfamiliar regions. That includes AccuWeather, AllTrails, Apple, Google, WhatsApp, and X, with more slated for the future. App developers who'd like to jump on the bandwagon can contact T-Mobile at [email protected].
Experience Beyond subscribers
Starlink coverage will be free to T-Mobile Experience Beyond subscribers, who pay around $100 a month per line for unlimited texting and data and a host of perks. All other mobile phone customers, including those on AT&T and Verizon plans, will pay $10 per month. That monthly $10 fee is lower than the amounts the carrier had previously stated -- $15 for other T-Mobile customers and $20 for AT&T and Verizon customers. The Uncarrier seems to have dropped the price as an incentive to coax more people to sign up.
Though the service will be accessible to any mobile user, you will need a relatively recent phone. T-Mobile has suggested that any phone from the last four years will do the trick.
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