T-Mobile Starlink will enable wireless emergency alerts and emergency texting
Strong winds continue to wreak havoc across Los Angeles, fanning devastating flames that have, at latest count, claimed the lives of 24 people and destroyed entire neighborhoods. While thousands have been evacuated and thousands of others remain without power, some relief has come in the form of direct-to-device (D2D) services. Provided by T-Mobile US and Starlink, the temporarily available service will enable wireless emergency alerts and emergency texting.
SpaceX’s D2D constellation is not yet fully deployed; however, T-Mobile US was able to make the early test version available for those who need it most, something it also did in response to Hurricanes Milton and Helene last year. In addition, the telco said late last week that it has restored “roughly half of the sites that were impacted by commercial power loss,” and continues to evaluate impacted site as safety allows.
T-Mobile US opened a registration page for a beta test for its D2D Starlink service at the very end of 2024. The beta direct-to-cellular program, which will officially kick off early this year, will only support texting. Voice and data services are planned in the future. The carriers says that inbound and outbound text messages will be “sent and received just like any other message” and that users won’t need to hold up their phones to search for a signal. T-Mobile Starlink will eventually provide coverage for 500,000 square miles of the United States that aren’t covered by terrestrial wireless service, the two companies said.
T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon are offering unlimited talk, text and data services for prepaid and post-paid subscribers impacted by the fires.
