T-Mobile is sending out invites for Starlink beta test

When it comes to wireless networking, we focus on two important factors: speed and availability. 5G already has a solid foundation when it comes to speed, but when it comes to roaming wherever we go, 5G is hard to beat satellite connection. Today, satellite support on smartphones is still in its infancy, but projects from big companies like T-Mobile and Starlink have promised to start bringing it to the mainstream. Now, as T-Mobile starts handing out invites, some lucky smartphone owners are getting ready to try satellite access for the first time.

Interested T-Mobile users have been able to register their interest Starlink service Since the beginning of this month, expect to be able to participate in T-Mobile’s beta testing. Although not Suitable for every mobile phoneat least the messaging service is free during the beta period – you definitely shouldn’t expect that to continue. The beta isn’t supposed to actually start until early next year, but robot life According to reports, many registered users have begun receiving invitation links to set up T-Mobile Starlink service.

Invitations for both Samsung and Apple hardware have reportedly been confirmed. On Samsung phones, a new “Satellite Network” screen will now appear under system connection settings, and details of the messaging plan may appear once the test is fully up and running.

T-Mobile’s Starlink test initially only supported text messaging, but the plan has expanded beyond data and voice at some point. Data (depending on its use case) is at least somewhat flexible, but voice in particular can cause problems due to latency—it takes time to send a cell phone signal all the way to space and back. Hopefully, as T-Mobile and Starlink’s experiments begin in earnest, we’ll have a better idea of ​​the real-world limitations once we start hearing feedback from actual testers.