- T-Mobile is making its Text to 911 via satellite service free for anyone with a compatible phone – even non-T-Mobile customers
- The service targets the 500,000 square miles of U.S. territory without traditional cell coverage, including national parks
- By leaning on its Starlink partnership, T-Mobile gains a D2D edge over Verizon and AT&T, whose AST SpaceMobile-backed efforts are still not commercially available
Let’s just say there’s a lot going on in the direct-to-device (D2D), aka direct-to-cellular (D2C), space. So much so, our heads are spinning.
The latest: T-Mobile announced Wednesday that it’s making its Text to 911 via satellite feature available free of charge to anyone, including people who aren’t using its broader service known as T-Satellite.
That means anyone with a compatible phone – including customers of Verizon and AT&T – can sign up to use T-Mobile Text to 911 via satellite and get some peace of mind when they’re traveling through or just having some fun in remote areas not served by terrestrial cell towers. According to T-Mobile, about 500,000 square miles of the U.S. are not covered by traditional cell towers, including national parks that are super hard to reach through land-based towers.
“It’s there when you need it the most. And it’s too important to keep gated. Now all wireless users with a compatible phone can sign up for T-Mobile Text to 911 for absolutely free,” said T-Mobile President of Marketing, Strategy & Products Mike Katz in a statement.
Sounds good, right?
“What T-Mobile is doing is solving a real customer pain point in the truest sense of the word,” Recon Analytics founder Roger Entner told Fierce. “When you are injured anywhere, you want to call 911 and get rescued regardless of the device you own or carrier you use.”
T-Satellite is included with T-Mobile’s top-end plans and can be added a la carte to other T-Mobile plans for $10/month. Non-T-Mobile customers can also add T-Satellite for $10/month. Again, the Text to 911 option is free for anyone with a compatible device.
What about iPhone and Pixel?
But TMF Associates Principal Tim Farrar pointed out that T-Mobile’s press release includes a little caveat near the end: Its new, free Text to 911 service defers to the device-native satellite emergency services available on select iPhones and the latest Google Pixel models.
Apple has been offering satellite-based emergency SOS services (via Globalstar) since the launch of the iPhone 14 in 2022, and Google uses Skylo on the latest Pixel devices for satellite connectivity.
That got us wondering, if a person has an iPhone 14 or newer and they also have T-Mobile, who's handling the emergency text?
A T-Mobile spokesperson confirmed that iPhone 14 and newer iPhones, as well as the Google 9 and 10, default to Apple’s Globalstar and Google’s Skylo services, respectively, for the free Text to 911 services. The spokesperson later clarified that for customers who pay for the T-Satellite service, their phones use T-Mobile's service irrespective of whatever native OEM service is available.
And the newer iPhone and Pixel devices can also use T-Satellite for other things, like getting access to maps and apps like AllTrails and WhatsApp.
Here are a couple other bullet points the T-Mobile spokesperson shared:
- T-Mobile Text to 911 is also capturing iPhone 13 users. It's the only Text to 911 satellite service for iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 will default to that.
- All other Android devices that are satellite-capable will also default to T-Mobile Text to 911.
So, it's a pretty big deal. It’s worth pointing out once again that the satellite service only works when there’s a direct line of sight to a satellite – Starlink has more than 650 of them flying overhead – and it will work when service isn’t available from a terrestrial cell tower.
The more satellites that are available, the more likely a cell phone will “see” it and be able to connect. “Starlink has a lot more satellites in space than anyone else, which should help with availability,” Entner noted.
In sum, T-Mobile certainly earns brownie points for extending its Text to 911 to more users, but it also appears to be twisting the proverbial knife a little more into Verizon and AT&T because they don’t have the same kind of deal with Starlink that T-Mobile struck.
Verizon offers satellite connectivity through Skylo, but both Verizon and AT&T are invested in D2D rival AST SpaceMobile, which hasn’t yet launched a commercial service.
Strike while the iron’s hot, as they say. Or maybe in T-Mobile’s case: while the satellites are in your orbit.