T-Mobile and Starlink launch beta satellite internet in US for testing
By : Sandhya
T-Mobile US Inc has released a beta version of billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet for testing purposes, completely free in the US till July this year. T-Mobile, one of the largest telecom providers in the US, announced the release during the Super Bowl game.
As a result, over 500,000 square miles of the US, the size equivalent of two Texas, earlier not reachable by cell towers will now get connectivity, the company said. At the moment, only text messages will be possible to send. Other features such as picture messages, data and voice calls will come later, the carrier said, without specifying when.
“T-Mobile Starlink uses specially configured satellites with Direct-to-Cell capabilities orbiting the Earth 200+ miles up in space and traveling at over 17,000 miles per hour to deliver cell phone signals,” T-Mobile said in its announcement. The phones of the users automatically connect to Starlink right when it goes out of the reach of terrestrial cell towers. There is no need to manually connect.