For those who’ve traveled to distant areas the place mobile protection does not attain, you realize that anxious feeling when your communications slam to a halt. T-Cell‘s new $10 a month Starlink-based satellite tv for pc texting service, T-Satellite tv for pc, which went stay right now, takes a distinct strategy from different satellite tv for pc providers to offer cell entry even throughout the half one million sq. miles of wi-fi lifeless zones within the US.
To check it out, I drove practically three hours from Seattle till my cellphone bars deserted me, giving me an opportunity to see if satellite tv for pc texting utilizing T-Satellite tv for pc is as simple as on a regular basis mobile texting.
Watch this: Palms-On with T-Cell’s T-Satellite tv for pc Service
How T-Satellite tv for pc differs from different satellite tv for pc providers
Satellite tv for pc texting is now an enormous deal: the wi-fi suppliers and phone-makers together with Apple are betting satellite tv for pc connectivity is the reply for vacationers and individuals who stay in distant areas (and even these impacted by emergencies such because the large flooding in Texas).
It additionally is not new. Apple began providing SOS communication backed by Globalstar on the iPhone 14. And later, that allowed emergency texting once you’re exterior protection areas — a literal lifesaver for individuals injured, misplaced or stranded in distant areas. The characteristic additionally allowed you to share you location through satellite tv for pc within the Discover My app. Apple then expanded the service to incorporate any texting utilizing the Messages app, in addition to calling for roadside help. CNET’s David Lumb used Messages through satellite tv for pc on his iPhone 15 Professional to textual content associates and share his ideas when he summited Mount Haleakalā’s peak in Hawaii.
Google has the same characteristic in its Pixel 9 telephones, besides the Pixel 9A, which works with satellite tv for pc supplier Skylo. Samsung Galaxy telephones, just like the just lately launched Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, can use Verizon for satellite tv for pc texting and to contact emergency providers by Skylo, too.
Nevertheless, that communication includes a number of steps to activate the characteristic. It’s good to be open air with a transparent view of the sky — no timber or buildings — and level your cellphone at a passing satellite tv for pc, protecting it regular to take care of the connection.
With T-Satellite tv for pc, the expertise is sort of completely different. Texting is sort of indistinguishable from once you’re inside mobile protection. On a Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely with a T-Cell plan, opening the Messages app confirmed the cellphone already linked to satellite tv for pc, with a banner studying “You are messaging by satellite tv for pc.” A small satellite tv for pc icon seems within the menu bar with radiating curves to point the standing of the connection.
The cellphone has mechanically linked to the T-Satellite tv for pc community, as indicated by its (teeny) standing icon.
That is due partly to the truth that there are actually greater than 650 Starlink satellites overhead offering wider protection, but additionally as a result of they use a frequency band appropriate with most telephones offered within the final 4 years.You do not want a particular cellphone mannequin that has satellite tv for pc messaging {hardware}, such because the Motorola Razr Extremely.
The expertise of organising T-Satellite tv for pc on my iPhone 16 Professional was usually the identical. One distinctive factor about T-Satellite tv for pc is that T-Cell is providing the service to anybody, even when they use one other service for mobile service. In my case, I arrange the T-Satellite tv for pc beta utilizing the second eSIM slot on my cellphone, and turned off the first service (AT&T) to be able to check simply T-Cell’s characteristic. A strong black satellite tv for pc icon seems within the menu bar.
I ought to observe that I carried out this testing a pair days earlier than T-Satellite tv for pc went stay, so it was technically throughout the T-Satellite tv for pc beta interval, and utilizing a beta model of the Messages app on Android.
Plus, I did not try to make an emergency name, both, which on the T-Satellite tv for pc service would imply dialing 911 within the cellphone app, versus initiating an SOS textual content communication utilizing Apple’s service.
Texting, however typically slower
Principally, texting through satellite tv for pc is rather like texting through mobile. The info pipe between the cellphone and a satellite tv for pc flying overhead at 17,000 miles per hour is small, so sometimes texts would take a number of seconds to undergo. However typically a dialog would occur with none prolonged lag. By comparability, when CNET’s Patrick Holland examined Apple’s Messages through satellite tv for pc characteristic, he famous that “most sends had been practically instantaneous, others took 15 to twenty seconds with one taking on a minute.”
One characteristic going stay right now for Android is the flexibility to ship pictures, movies and audio information utilizing Multimedia Messaging Service over the satellite tv for pc community. On the Galaxy S25 Extremely, I snapped a photograph of the lake and despatched it utilizing Messages as I usually would. The one distinction over satellite tv for pc is that it took round two and a half minutes to ship.
On Android, you may ship pictures through MMS even over the satellite tv for pc connection. The characteristic is coming later for iOS.
Nevertheless, MMS is presently solely supported on Android; iOS assist is coming later. Additionally arriving sooner or later — October, particularly — is the flexibility for apps to ship and obtain information over the satellite tv for pc connection. T-Cell has cited AllTrails for example of apps that’ll be appropriate with the service.
This could be a terrific use of knowledge for different mapping instruments. Though I used to be by no means misplaced on this journey –I pulled right into a well-marked scenic overlook to check with a surprising view — I additionally made a degree of downloading an offline map of the world utilizing Apple Maps whereas I used to be nonetheless inside mobile vary.
Lingering questions and challenges
Not each message went by, and after my restricted testing, there are a number of areas the place extra readability would assist.
For instance, on Android, it wasn’t all the time apparent once I’d misplaced satellite tv for pc connection. In principle, with many Starlink satellites overhead, you should not have to fret about pointing at a particular patch of sky to take care of a connection. However at one level after sending a message, some textual content beneath it stated the app was ready to attach. Solely then did I discover the tiny satellite tv for pc icon was displaying skinny grey bars as a substitute of skinny black bars.
Examine that to Apple’s implementation, which makes use of Dynamic Island to point out an impossible-to-miss inexperienced standing button to point a strong connection to a satellite tv for pc. Or Google’s Satellite tv for pc SOS service, with its full-screen visible prompts that allow you to keep linked to a satellite tv for pc or hook up with a brand new one if wanted.
The outstanding inexperienced icon within the Dynamic Island signifies a satellite tv for pc connection when utilizing Apple’s satellite tv for pc texting characteristic. (The purple icon reveals that the display screen is being recorded and is not associated to the connection.)
I additionally bumped into some confusion with my iPhone 16 Professional working T-Satellite tv for pc as a secondary eSIM. When making an attempt to textual content a pal who got here together with me and was utilizing Apple’s technique on his iPhone, I received a message that he was linked through satellite tv for pc and was given the choice to faucet Ship through Satellite tv for pc. What I did not understand on the time was that the connection dropped as I used to be typing the textual content. On additional analysis, I found that an lively third-party satellite tv for pc connection reveals “SAT” within the menu bar. When SAT is changed by a black satellite tv for pc icon, it means T-Satellite tv for pc is not linked, however that Apple’s satellite tv for pc choice is accessible; I believed it meant that I used to be nonetheless linked.
At one level, I used to be unable to textual content my pal who was additionally utilizing satellite tv for pc entry, regardless that it gave the impression to be linked (see the satellite tv for pc icon within the menu bar). (The purple button within the Dynamic Island reveals that the display screen is being recorded.)
Search for, and forward
Will satellite tv for pc providers cowl the remaining lifeless zones and permit simple communication even in distant areas? Based mostly on my expertise, the potential is unquestionably there. It has been lower than two years since Apple first launched Emergency SOS through satellite tv for pc on the iPhone and it is spectacular how satellite tv for pc connectivity has expanded so rapidly with the flexibility to assist texting. I recognize that the T-Satellite tv for pc implementation is much like the best way thousands and thousands of individuals talk every single day through textual content. Eradicating friction is essential to adopting applied sciences like this.
As corporations construct up the capability and efficiency of satellite tv for pc providers, it is easy to see a close to future the place you do not have to consider the way you’re getting information, simply as we presently do not ever take into consideration which mobile tower is relaying our information.
As somebody who lives in cellular-saturated Seattle, I most likely will not must depend on satellite tv for pc information. However the North Cascades is the place I’ve gone tenting for years, so I can see it being sometimes helpful, particularly if there’s ever an emergency scenario.
As I used to be juggling my telephones and pestering my family and friends with texts, a pair approached to ask what I used to be doing. They had been visiting the world from a small city in northern Idaho close to the Canadian border, the place mobile protection is a rarity. After speaking for a couple of minutes, I noticed that having the ability to join wirelessly through satellite tv for pc might be an actual boon for them, particularly in emergencies, but additionally on a regular basis annoyances when different types of communication aren’t accessible, like throughout energy outages.
