I saw (but can’t find) a post about Starlink SMS on T-Mobile and whether it would work with Mint Mobile or other MVNOs. The satellite constellation was completed this week, so I found the T-Mobile Beta sign-up page, gave them my name, email and phone number. Got a immediate welcome email saying the beta starts next month.
I’m a Mint customer, so that is good news. I’ll post updates as I exercise the service. They are supposed to add data and voice by the end of 2025.
Gonna have to add a flip up cover to the L5 so I will have a real Star Trek communicator!
I wonder what the “compatible device” is? Apple phones only? Sure, satellites are good in remote area coverage, but I’m not very keen on using that particular system - besides, I’d like to be able to look at the night sky.
I’m sure it will be immediately apparent if it means anything beyond GSM. I activated this SIM on Mint in a Pine Phone, then moved the SIM to the L5 when it arrived.
I live out in the tules, so I appreciate a dark sky, however I also appreciate seeing Starlink trains, Iridium glints and the ISS.
I found a few articles on satellite direct to cell with T-Mobile. I read there that you have to be a T-Mobile customer to take part in their beta testing program. I doubt that belonging to a T-Mobile MVNO will qualify. In a few recent disasters, SpaceX opened up DTC service to all carriers, because of the emergency. But the satellite DTC data testing program will be closed to allow T-Mobile customers only to participate.
In addition, Satellite DTC service is set up by design, to route your calls (actually text messages only at this time) through terrestial networks by default. So if you are in the city and if you are a T-Mobile customer and if you sign up with T-Mobile to take part in the beta testing of their DTC system and if you want to receive any real DTC text messages, you’ll have to travel to some location where the terrestial cell phone service networks can’t find your phone before the text message is sent to you. Upon receiving the text message from the sender and not being able to locate your phone on any terrestial cell phone network, SpaceX satellites will then find your phone via satellite will and then send a text message to it for you. I am pretty sure that there needs to be polling for your phone by the satellite system with a response from your phone, back to the satellite system, before the text message will be transmitted by the satellite system to your phone. Considering the number of potential customers and the amount of potential data traffic, it wouldn’t make sense for SpaceX to brodcast your message from space over a very large geographic area anymore than is absolutely necessary to find your phone before passing any traffic through it. Directional antennas can re-use the same frequencies many times over if the satellite system first locates you and then transmits with a beam focused as tightly as is possible on your specific location.
I would like to be wrong in these details. But I don’t think I am. If SpaxeX would just brodcast widely to everyone on earth, privacy would be better served. In that event, Purism could build a receive-only module in to their next phone that could listen for anything involving your phone number. In that case, you could leave your phone and location settings turned off all of the time. Your phone wouldn’t show up anywhere, on any network. But when someone called or texted you, then your phone could notify you that someone (and who they are) is attempting to reach you. You would then have the option of turning-on and answering your phone, or sending them a text, before turning your phone’s radio transmitter and GPS module off again. Anyone tracking you would only see you when you choose to let them see you while you are actively in the process of using a network. But the large “brodcast” model is going away as communications providers strive continuously, to pack more information in to less space, and to re-use the same frequencies on different channels, as much as they can.
T-Mobile recently bought Mint Mobile, which before had been “merely” an MVNO. That’s why I went to the T-Mobile site to probe them. They responded as if I was part of the T-Mobile family, perhaps because the telephone number popped in their database. Either way, I’ll let everyone know what happens.
I’m not disputing that. I live in a fringe, mountainous area. I’m sure I can find places were there are no towers visible, but plenty of sky (and my Starlink ISP coverage is excellent). This is a beta and I’m a curious guy by nature and game to test.
When I drove from Ohio to California about four years ago, I seem to remember zero service along the Platte River in Nebraska all the way to Colorado and Wyoming. As I recall, I went from zero to five bars as I crossed the state line.
Fortunately, I won’t have to go that far to test – plenty of dead zone pockets are close at hand.
I didn’t know that T-Mobile recently bought Mint Mobile. With Mint, in the city, I get good coverage. In the bigger small towns, I get good coverage while in town. Other than that, even when I have bars, I don’t always have coverage. But at only $180 per year, I don’t mind the rare occurances when I travel and need better coverage, but don’t have it. My lady has Verizon and is always with me when I travel anyway.
So when I do have bars but no coverage, the question is whether or not during the DTC testing, T-Mobile would choose to open up better roaming to me, or connect via satellite.
Does anyone here know if 4G LTE will work? Or will satellite connections require 5G? The Librem 5 only has 4G.
If you really want to see a crazy cell phone connection area, try Laughlin Nevada / Bullhead City Arizona. Those two cities are connected and operate in many ways as one city. The slow-moving Colorado river separares the two cities. But there are several bridges that cross the river and thus, you feel like there is only one city there.
In the winter, Nevada is in one time zone, while Arizona is in a different time zone. Arizona does not have daylight savings time. In the winter, there is a one-hour difference in times between these two cities which once again feels more like one city when you are there. But there is only one problem. I found it to be a big problem.
When you first arrive, you may look at your cell phone time and see (for example), 8:00 AM. A few minutes larer, you look at your cell phone and the time is 7:05 AM. A few minutes larer, it’s 8:10 AM. So you stop and say to yourself “Hold on here. What time is it really?”, and “what’s going on here?”. There are cell towers on both sides of the river. Each side of the river has its own different time zone. As you walk around or drive around in the town (or Towns, plural), your phone switches its connections to different cell towers. Some of those towers that connect to your phone are on the same side of the river as you are. Some of the towers that your phone connects to are on the other side of the river. You have no way to know which time zone your phone is displaying. After several hours, you lose track of time. And when looking at your phone, you can’t tell within a three-hour window, what time it really is. If you agree to meet someone at a given time, you have to call them to see what time it is according to them each hour, to figure out when you’ll really meet. If you don’t have an off-grid watch or clock, everything gets really messed up and stays messed up. My smart watch changed time zones to stay in-sync with my phone. If you have an early day planned ahead for the next day, you might wish you had a winde-up alarm clock with you. Nothing “Smart” can be trusted and no one you talk to is specific about their times unless you ask them for clarification.
My solution: Change my cell phone settings to force the phone to not look to any cell towers to get the time. Make the phone keep its own time, starting before leaving home. Then when you arrive in Laughlin/Bullhead City, be very clear with everyone when communicating about the time. Regardless of where I am, think of time in terms of Arizona time (my home time) as the real time, and add or subtract time as necessary to match the my exact location as necessary. So I might say “Dinner reservations at 7:00. Is that Arizona or Nevada time?” (and adjust accordingly). You can’t take anything for granted when time is involved in that place. A ten dollar watch that kept its own time would have solved a lot. If you’re visiting for the weekend, you’ll probably be on your way home before you have confidence in what time it really is, and in what to do differently next time.
I found some info that makes me wonder if these satellite communication conversations may have some details wrong. Unless I’m mistaken, Apple & others seem to be only capable of emergency messages and short texts (for now, at least). This indicates that they are using the same technology that is in emergency satellite beacons, not what is used in 4G/5G networks - no satellite video conferencing etc. These services use a dedicated app and two way communication is only via that (although one way from the device is possible without the app to any cellphone via SMS). External devices like Motorola Defy or HMD Offgrid seem to be based on Bullit services, which has made the CAT phones. The CAT S75 and Motorola Defy 2 have this satellite capability built in, and use Bullitt Satellite Messenger app (available for iOS and Android). Satellite service is probably via Skylo or similar third party broker (some other devices have used Iridium). I’d expect the T-mobile thing to be similar.
The external devices as such seem like a potential companion for any phone, since they use BT to connnect - it’s just that the app is not available for linux, which prevents L5 from having off the cellular grid capability (and that you need to pay for the subscription). I see separate device as a good thing, since it uses battery. As a side note, as these are meant for safety and rescue, location tracking is pretty much a given. Even these emergency services do not promise the whole globe (satellite coverage is limited and services may not be provided, for example: Coverage – Bullitt Satellite)
I’m not interested specialty satellite waveforms phone chipsets, just DTC – Direct to Cell. Starlink/T-Mobile have indicated that they intend to start SMS over 4G later this month, data over 4G around mid-year, and voice by the end of the year. As soon as they notify me that the service is up, I will head to a terrestrial dead zone and share my experience.
They didn’t mention 5G, but I’m not interested in that, either. I recently saw an article (The Register?) about a (Swedish?) study that found over 5x safe signal strength (IIRC) in rural areas, but not in cities. They though it had to do with the phone trying to compensate for low signal strength from sparse tower coverage. I can’t see it being better to low earth orbit.
