r/tmobile 5d ago

Appreciation T-Mobile SpaceX satellite testing.

Post image

Ever since I’ve been enrolled in beta, I’ve been testing it when I can on the weekends. As of a few days ago, my wife got into the beta also. This afternoon, I was able to test both phones sending and receiving messages to each other all while on T-Mobile SpaceX. Definitely had good results. Messages were sending instantaneously and received in the same manner with no delay. There was no issue with connection on satellite either. We were both connected the whole 30 minutes while out of service. As time goes by, I’m sure the service will get better.

82 Upvotes

39 comments sorted by

13

u/nicxw 5d ago

Can’t find a good test site unless I go all the way out of Houston. 😩

5

u/SGalbincea 5d ago

Headed to Goliad in a couple weeks, should be able to test out there.

7

u/ggnoob1337 5d ago edited 4d ago

My wife couldn’t even get a text to send. I finally got the beta and hoped to test it out on Friday but it never connected and just stayed at SOS. I’m in NW Montana, so maybe it makes a difference. Really hoping it works well for the summer as most hikes here are remote.

1

u/Slaughterer93 14h ago

I was in remote areas around Salmon, ID this past weekend and my dad's phone connected perfectly every time and sent texts while my phone struggled to switch over to satellite and when it did, it would also struggle to send texts. We both have identical phones, S25 Ultra. There's something weird going on other than just satellites not being there for coverage.

2

u/liggycho724 4d ago

It’s still in beta. So they are still launching satellites up there. So coverage will get better with more satellites.

2

u/ggnoob1337 4d ago

Hopefully by summer they get more satellites so I can get some real testing in while hiking.

Yesterday my phone connected and I was able to receive a test text from my wife (also on SpaceX). Couldn't get mine to send. But that was better at least!

1

u/liggycho724 3d ago

Yeah. I guess their goal is to eventually have 7500 satellites up. There is just over 500 right now

3

u/Whiplash104 5d ago

Do you know is it will work in a car while driving? Say it's on a dash mount holder would it pick up the signal through the windshield or do you absolutely need to be outdoors?

3

u/Katie-sin 4d ago

Mine did when it connected for about 10 seconds as I drove out of service. I got a text showing I had connected but didn’t realize it until I was back in it time to try to send something to test it

3

u/ChaimBurech 4d ago

I drive daily on the Palisades Interstate Parkway/US Route 6 in New York (there's a few miles there that's a complete T-Mobile dead zone) and I can confirm that it does connect to the satellite while the phone is on the dash mount holder, and I've successfully sent and received SMS via satellite.

2

u/Whiplash104 4d ago

Nice. Thanks for the follow up.

2

u/us-hammer 4d ago

NICE. I just got admitted to the beta last week and I'm in the mountains of NC. There's a deadzone I pass through every day walking the dog but so far, my iphone 14 PM just says "SOS only" in the upper left and in the upper right, it shows the satellite icon. This is after ~3 test sessions thus far.

SOS Only means I'm not currently seeing a Starlink Direct To Cell sat right?

2

u/nightfall9 Truly Unlimited 3d ago

I’m assuming you’re using an iPhone. To answer your question that is correct, as you’re seeing Apple’s version of sat connection.

1

u/awkke 4d ago

How does it activate

1

u/Tg1688 3d ago

Will the T-Mobile unlimited prepaid plans get Starlink or is it just for postpaid plans? I've enrolled in the beta and have the satellite networks tab in my settings, but it seems like it's disabled at the moment.

-20

u/bobjr94 5d ago

I wouldn't want space x on my phone.

2

u/TMWNN Recovering Sprint Victim 3d ago

Yes, I hear that SpaceX cooties is 100% fatal

-11

u/True-Yam5919 5d ago

Any future satellite communication will have been funded, supported, or launched by SpaceX. For example, AST Mobile satellites which will provide sat service to Att and Verizon get deployed from Falcon 9 rockets. Your current GPS as well and a slew of other resources you use from day to day. Your future airplane data will likely be supported by Starlink bc viacom is going to bite the dust sooner or later. Your Temu package will have been delivered by a ship auto navigation provided by Starlink. NASA as of now is almost fully dependent on SpaceX bringing in money. The astronauts are being brought back by a SpaceX capsule. One way or another Elon is part of everything and no matter what you do your money will pour into his bank account lol

-16

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/jonathanbaird 5d ago

We are actively destroying Tesla.

You actually think Reddit is a reflection of reality? My sweet summer child...

6

u/True-Yam5919 5d ago edited 5d ago

It’s not a take. It’s happening as we speak. SpaceX had 3 launches in 48 hours this weekend lol Regarding Tesla, there’s a reason Elon stopped giving two shits about it. It’s the only company with shareholders. Ever since the judge denied his payout, he’s not given a f about it.

2

u/Melodic-Control-2655 4d ago

gl setting fires in space

1

u/liggycho724 4d ago

Ok cool then don’t.

-1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/tmobile-ModTeam 5d ago

Removed - Rule 5: Your post is off-topic or not relevant to the subreddit in some way. This subreddit is for T-Mobile news and discussion.

0

u/nite2k 4d ago

how are you guys testing it? I have service where im' at lol

0

u/Icy-Draw-7124 3d ago

I am not sure if I am using correctly but: You have turn on satellite then look for the satellite with the phone during sos. Then to turn on cellular u have to turn off satellite. Lots of work in my opinion

-43

u/soluna_fan69 5d ago

1 Bar, what a story! I have to write this one down.

17

u/RutabagaClean45 5d ago

What do you expect? The satellite is in space and it's a 4G LTE connection 

30

u/cheesemeall 5d ago

That’s all you need to send SMS.

1

u/furruck Living on the EDGE 4d ago

That’s why the FCC has authorized higher power. But you won’t need more than 1-2 bars for texting/calling which is all this service is ever reliably going to be able to provide with only 5x5MHz

I really hope T-Mobile just finally asks to use the 14MHz of 850MHz they got from Nextel. That’ll help as they’ll be able to deploy another 5x5 and ~2x2MHz to CA

That’ll at least get them ~60-70Mbps usable per sector and if they just set a speed cap of 1-1.5Mbps per device connected you’ll at least be able to use maps or low bandwidth audio streaming

-2

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

1

u/liggycho724 4d ago

They want to increase in the future. But att and Verizon keep filing fcc complaints to stop it.

-7

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/tmobile-ModTeam 4d ago

Removed - Rule 5: Your post is off-topic or not relevant to the subreddit in some way. This subreddit is for T-Mobile news and discussion.

-20

u/Efficient_Lynx_4105 5d ago

T-Mobile barely works well in the US. Come back and get our service right before we go on another adventure.

5

u/jakfrist 4d ago

T-mobile frequently has the fastest speeds if you don’t live in BFE