T-Mobile tests using Starlink to send emergency alerts you can get off the grid

T-Mobile, which is working with SpaceX to let people text and make phone calls over satellite, says it has successfully sent a test emergency alert via a Starlink satellite. Satellite alerts can help ensure that people receive critical communication when they’re out of wireless coverage range, and T-Mobile claims this is the first time a wireless emergency alert has been sent over satellite in the US.

“At 5:13 PM PT on Thursday, September 5th, T-Mobile initiated a test alert for a hypothetical evacuation notice,” according to T-Mobile. “The alert was sent 217 miles into space where it was received by one of the more than 175 Starlink direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low earth orbit that effectively function as cell towers in space. The alert was then broadcast to a geographic area impacted by the hypothetical evacuation notice and received by a T-Mobile smartphone.” T-Mobile says it took “just seconds” to queue up the message and deliver it over satellite.

In 2022, T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a partnership that would let people text, make phone calls, and use data on their T-Mobile phones using Starlink’s satellites. According to Starlink’s Direct to Cell website, the ability to text over satellite will roll out starting this year, and T-Mobile said in January that the service will expand to voice and data “in the coming years.” In Wednesday’s blog post, T-Mobile said that it “intends to beta test the service before launching it commercially.”

AT&T and Verizon are also building out satellite-to-smartphone services, and Apple and Google offer satellite services for iPhone and Pixel smartphones.