T-Mobile on Monday opened registration to a beta test of its direct to device (D2D) service with SpaceX’s Starlink, and offered a few insights into how it might pursue the market. For example, the company’s beta test is only available to its postpaid customers, and it doesn’t expect to launch commercial services until some time later next year.
But T-Mobile declined to outline how much it might charge for the service. “T-Mobile Starlink is free during the beta test. We will provide more details about the commercial service at launch,” the company wrote on its registration site.
Regardless, the company clearly sees the offering as a competitive advantage. For example, T-Mobile released a video featuring YouTube influencer Mark Rober using the service to send a text message to his dad.
T-Mobile said its beta service is open to all of its customers who subscribe to its postpaid service plans. It also has a separate sign-up site for its business customers.
“Capacity is limited,” the operator wrote on its registration site. “Customers are encouraged to register now.”
The company said its beta test would launch sometime early next year, and that a wider commercial launch would happen “sometime in 2025.”
The service will initially only support text messaging but T-Mobile said voice and data support is “coming in the future.” Starlink, on its own website, suggested it will offer data and IoT services sometime in 2025 and voice services “soon.”
That’s a slightly different launch timeline from what Starlink supplied earlier this year, when it promised voice, data and IoT services by 2025.
- TAMPA, Fla. — T-Mobile has opened beta registration for Starlink’s direct-to-smartphone satellite service, enabling text messaging early next year on select newer devices in most U.S. cellular dead zones with a clear sky view.
- The free beta program is available to all T-Mobile customers with compatible devices and postpaid voice plans, the telco announced Dec. 16, although first responders will receive priority access due to limited initial capacity.
- The company declined to detail capacity and device restrictions but said the beta program would gradually expand to more devices via software updates.