Transcription
Hey, what is up everyone? This is Jake Menel here from Pime Technology and today we're going to take a look at T-Mobile's satellite service.
So, this is a direct to cell service that essentially provides cellular connectivity to your smartphone or any mobile device via the satellite network. So, T-Mobile partnered with um SpaceX to deploy satellites all the way up in space 300 miles away to provide cell phone service to your phone. It was in a beta stage and now it has moved on to a commercial um release. However, um it has just included text messaging and location sharing. It never included any sort of data functionality. I updated my Galaxy S25 Ultra to the 1 UI8 beta software and turns out that the T- satellite data connectivity is enabled on 1 UI8 beta on the Galaxy S25.
Now, I just want to preface that this is not a commercially release service yet. It is still in beta stages and officially it is launching with the Google Pixel 10. So, is T- Satellite data service any good? Let's go ahead and take a look.
As of the recording of this video, which is at the end of August, there are some apps that do support T- satellite, including WhatsApp, the weather app, Google Maps X, also known as Twitter, Tife, which is T-Mobile's app, Find My Mobile for location services and location finding, um, mobile services, Google Play services, and messages. So, there are only a few apps that currently support T- satellite data at the moment. However, once more developers update their apps. More apps will be able to work over T satellite.
On an Android phone, you'll know you're connected to the T satellite network when your phone shows a satellite icon in the top right corner next to your battery indicator. On iPhones, it will say SAT S A T and you'll see T-Mobile SpaceX under the carrier name. And as you can see, my phone is getting an LTE1900 band 25 signal. And you can see my RSRP ranges between -100 dBm and -120 to -130 dBm. So it ranges based upon how far you are from the satellite um and other numerous factors such as the weather etc. Um and you can see here they're using a 5 megahertz slice of band 25 which is also known as the PCSG block on the FCC band plan for PCS.
Now, I first went ahead and tried the Google Maps app using T- Satellite data, and I was actually in my car while doing this because I wanted to see if T- satellite data will even work while you're in the car. And I am pleased to report that it does work. So, as you can see, it shows that I am using the satellite network and I am using satellite imagery here and it loads very well. I really have no issues with even the satellite version of maps loading, never mind just the basic standard, you know, map that um just has the roads and the terrain and those sort of things. So, and as you can see here, I'm zooming into Hartford, Connecticut, which is a city that has a lot of 3D graphics and buildings. And as you can see, it handled it with no problem. I was able to zoom in, go look for certain roads, go look for certain buildings without any hitch whatsoever.
Now, as you can see here, as I will talk about later, there are still some gaps where you do not have a data connection or you do not have a good satellite connection. Uh, so as you can see here, that was one of those instances, but you can see that, you know, within 30 seconds or so, it picked up another satellite and I was able to resume looking at Google Maps and trying to find a destination to go to. And also, you can go ahead and click on different destinations and look at videos, pictures, images, get information about it, check the hours of where you're going. Now, you can't go ahead and click on a link to go order tickets to go to this state house, for example, but um you can see a lot of information about it and see read reviews on it. So, you can actually do quite a bit within the Google Maps app aside from just obviously navigating.
Next, I went ahead and tried out the X, also known as Twitter app to see how that worked over um T- Satellites data connection. And to my surprise, the app essentially works exactly like it does on any other connection. So I was able to scroll my timeline. I was able to go to profiles. As you can see here, I am on the CNET profile and they actually post full videos to Twitter and you can actually watch those full videos. Um, like this one right here is, you know, it's not a short video. So, it's like at least 5 minutes long and I am able to watch the entire thing using T satellite data. Now, the quality obviously isn't the best. It probably looks like it's somewhere around 240p, uh maybe 360p, but um the quality is not that great, but you know, if you're off-rid and you want to watch a video, it's decent enough. You know, it gets the job done. yourself buying uh one more iPhone accessory. When Apple holds its big iPhone event in September, there is a chance Apple could also reveal something.
Another feature in Twitter that I was surprised to see working is the Twitter spaces feature. Um so that's the feature where you can create a live almost sort of like live podcast and have everybody join in and listen to you. It's a voice only service, but I was surprised that that was working over the T- satellite um data connection. So, theoretically, one could host a live Twitter space and um do that all over the satellite connection or like I did, you can go ahead and listen in on someone else's space. Take a listen. Pickup should help AMD. So he actually said that he saw this not only as maybe neutral for Nvidia but bullish for AMD uh for their next earnings release. [Music] Yeah. No, I appreciate that commentary at the end actually. Very interesting. Uh I'm looking forward to talking more about this tomorrow on the spaces monotive. I hope you'll come join us. Wolfie as well as Snipa. Uh I'm looking forward to digesting this more.
Next, I went ahead and tried WhatsApp. And to my surprise, this app seemed to work pretty much exactly the same way as it does on a regular or any other connection. So, I was able to send messages. I was able to send an audio call, give somebody a phone call, and I was also able to do a video call. So, there is just something very satisfying about being able to do a video call over a satellite that is hundreds of miles away. It is just really crazy. Now, the quality again wasn't the best, but for being off-rid and having, you know, barely any connection, it actually looked pretty good. I was able to see myself. I ended up calling myself since nobody I know has WhatsApp. So hopefully they will support more apps in the future like FaceTime and other apps that a lot of people use on a daily basis for audio calling and video calling.
Last but not least, I went ahead and tried the T life app to see what I could do. You know, if I'd be able to order a phone, if I'd be able to check my account status, and from what I could see, everything worked as normal in the Tife app as it would any other connection. This seems to be a similar pattern here. The apps really aren't that limited by the satellite connection. They're likely just set up so that they throttle the amount of data that is being pushed through the satellite because the satellites don't have a lot of bandwidth and you do not want one person overwhelming the satellite. But I was able to go through look at the Pixel 10. You know, I could go ahead and purchase it if I wanted to. I went ahead and looked through my account info, checked my bill, so I could do pretty much just about everything you would do in the T Life app on any other connection over satellite.
T-Mobile's T- Satellite data service costs $10 per month for anyone who is not on their GO 5G next or Experience Beyond plans. So, if you're not on their top tier plan, they don't include T-Satellite. In my case, I am on the Go 5G Plus, so I had to sign up and it was $10 per month. I really wish T-Mobile would at least include a basic version of this service on all of their plans. I think this could be super useful in emergency situations. So, I think they should include at least like a basic version where you can, you know, text 911 or, you know, in an emergency be able to share your location with a family member or text a family member. I think the texting aspect should eventually be included with all plans. However, I can see why they would charge $10 for the data connectivity since that seems like it's more of a premium service versus texting, which I think it really should just be included with all their plans.
As of the recording of this video, I can't confirm if any other devices support T- satellite data connection just yet. Um, all I know is that my Galaxy S25 Ultra on the 1 UI beta supports it as well as the Pixel 10, which will launch with the satellite functionality out of the box. Not already a T-Mobile customer? AT&T and Verizon subscribers can sign up for T- Satellite as well. It costs $10 per month for them, the same as it would for a T-Mobile subscriber.
So, that's going to wrap up this video on T-Mobile's T- Satellite data connectivity. So far, I am pretty impressed by it. It seems to work really well. And scrolling on X, all the pictures load pretty quickly, about what you'd expect for a satellite connection. The WhatsApp video calling and voice calling also sounds pretty good and works pretty well. The only issue I really have so far is just losing connectivity occasionally. And the issue of losing connectivity can be fixed by T-Mobile and SpaceX simply deploying more satellites. They could definitely use more satellites so that you have pretty much seamless connectivity no matter where you are and what time of the day it is. But right now there is some slight gaps in the connectivity.
Stay tuned because AS, another satellite company, um, is planning to deploy their cellular solution with AT&T and Verizon very soon, which is going to use low band frequencies, 850 MHz and 700 MHz, rather than T-Mobile's 1900 MHz. So, I'm really interested to see how that's going to perform. So far, it seems like it will be later this year or early next year um, when we will be able to go ahead and test that service out.
If you like this video, be sure to leave a like on the video. Also, if you enjoy it and you want to see more of my videos in the future, be sure to subscribe to my channel. Leave a comment what you think about T-Mobile's satellite connectivity. Seems like it's a really, really cool product. But I'd really like to know your thoughts and whether you would find this feature useful and if you would pay $10 per month for this feature. Once again, thank you guys so much for watching. Smile because you and technology are amazing. And peace out.