T-Mobile Unveils Beta D2D Service With SpaceX
T-Mobile launched beta testing of its SpaceX-enabled text messaging service, T-Mobile Starlink. It said Sunday that the direct-to-device service -- which it also advertised in a TV spot during the Super Bowl -- allows text messaging for now, with data and voice calling "coming later." In addition, it said registered smartphones will automatically connect to the T-Mobile Starlink network when out of range of a cell tower. T-Mobile will also broadcast wireless emergency alerts nationwide via T-Mobile Starlink. The service is free until July and then will be included free in some plans and available as an add-on for $15 a month for others, the carrier said, adding that it's available free until July for AT&T and Verizon users, and then $20 a month afterward. "This is an incredible next step in our journey and with more than 451 Direct to Cell satellites in the constellation beta users can get text messaging capabilities in 500,000 square miles of the U.S. previously unreachable by any traditional network," T-Mobile President-Technology Ulf Ewaldsson wrote on LinkedIn.
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T-Mobile charging subscribers after July "basically means T-Mobile is charging extra because it has huge coverage gaps despite licensing its spectrum exclusively and nationwide," emailed the Open Technology Institute's Wireless Future Director Michael Calabrese. "Perhaps T-Mobile’s next step will be to decommission half of their cell towers in rural areas, so that they can make even more money charging consumers extra for texting in areas where they haven’t deployed or have weak signals. They also don’t seem to disclose that Apple is offering the same two-way texting service free indefinitely on its latest iPhone."