T-Mobile, SpaceX to Eliminate Cellular Dead Zones With Starlink Satellites

T-Mobile and SpaceX announced a plan to make every cell phone in the U.S. a satellite phone by connecting them to the spacecraft-engineering company’s constellation of low-earth-orbit satellites, Starlink. The partnership will provide current T-Mobile subscribers near complete “satellite-to-cellular service” in the U.S., including dead zones currently unreachable by traditional land-based cell service. “The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone,” said SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk. The initial service will be available “almost anywhere a customer can see the sky” and will allow text messaging, MMS and the use of “participating messaging apps,” T-Mobile said. Connectivity will be 2 to 4 Megabits per cell zone and will eventually be available to Tesla cars, Musk said in a series of tweets. The companies plan to add voice and data coverage later.