Free Internet on your cell phone? These phones are the ones that can connect for free to Starlink satellite internet
This year SpaceX and Starlink will offer free worldwide calls and text on the ‘Direct to Cell’ network, but only for certain users.
SpaceX has been taking an increasingly proactive role in American aerospace in recent years and the latest development promises to transform how people around the world communicate with each other.
The Starlink satellite internet system was launched in 2019 and now consists of more than 7,000 mass-produced satellites, spanning the entire globe. These developments have brought new possibilities, making ‘satellite phones’ attainable for the general public for the very first time.
Starlink has launched a new Low Earth Orbit (LEO) cellular network that will provide 4G services to regular smartphones. The new system - ‘Direct to Cell’ - can work with any phone that has LTE enabled but only one US cell provider has signed up so far.
Users of T-Mobile in the United States will be able to take advantage of the new service. It will be used to cover dead zones where the traditional cellular network is unable to reach.
we're taking your texts to space with the world’s largest satellite-to-cell constellation in partnership with @Starlink. T-Mobile Starlink beta is coming soon, register today at https://t.co/Ubq8mmEgo6 pic.twitter.com/xm1nhKwS5s
— T-Mobile (@TMobile) December 16, 2024
The service is also available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, Peru and Ukraine, in addition to the US. At the moment the Direct to Cell network is restricted to calls and texts but there are plans to expand it into “data and Internet of Things (IoT) services in 2025.”
Alongside civilian applications, the network has real potential in conflict zones where technological black-outs are often used by authoritarian regimes. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 USAID spent around $3 million to send 5,000 new Starlink terminals to support Ukrainian forces.
At the time, Starlink owner Elon Musk wrote: “A major factor for why Ukraine was NOT overrun by Russia is the Starlink support I provided, at great risk to SpaceX cyber & physical attack by Russian military forces… Starlink is the BACKBONE of Ukrainian military communications at the front lines, because everything else has been blown up or jammed by Russia.”
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