It was a long road, but T-Mobile finally launched its satellite service in the US as an official product last week, allowing users to communicate in areas where traditional service isn’t available. While being able to text everywhere is important, this type of communication becomes even more critical during emergencies.
The great part is that this service is also available to those outside of T-Mobile, with the brand allowing AT&T and Verizon customers to get in on the action as well. Of course, there is a cost associated with the service, coming in at $10/month. In addition, it also requires AT&T and Verizon customers to go through some additional steps when compared to T-Mobile customers (via PhoneArena).
For the most part, this is to be expected. Those that are not on T-Mobile and want T-Satellite service will be required to head into a store or call 1-800-937-8997 in order to sign up. For the time being, there isn’t an app or website that can handle this for you, so you will need to talk with someone to get this service on your phone.
Those on T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond and Go5G Next will get the service for free, and don’t need to take any action in order to gain access to T-Satellite. The same applies to Experience More customers that have signed up for the beta. However, all other T-mobile customers will need to head to the “Manage Data & Add-Ons” section of their account to add the service.
Of course, if you’re not really looking to jump through some hoops to get satellite service, you can wait it out if you’re an AT&T customer. The wireless carrier is now testing its own satellite service, which should be available at some point. Those on Verizon currently have access to satellite service, but it’s only available on a handful of phones. So if you haven’t purchased the latest, chances are, you won’t have access.
