Latest news with #T-Satellite
CNET
20 hours ago
- Business
- CNET
T-Mobile Announces T-Satellite: Rapid Fire Q&A with T-Mobile Exec
T-Mobile Announces T-Satellite: Rapid Fire Q&A with T-Mobile Exec T-Mobile Announces T-Satellite: Rapid Fire Q&A with T-Mobile Exec Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 1:42 Loaded : 5.83% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 1:42 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. T-Mobile Announces T-Satellite: Rapid Fire Q&A with T-Mobile Exec T-Mobile Announces T-Satellite: Rapid Fire Q&A with T-Mobile Exec Jun 27, 2025 Wireless Plans Show Transcript Do you remember your first phone? We asked T-Mobile's head of marketing this and more at an event in Bellevue, where the company also announced the commercial launch date for T-Satellite, its Starlink-based satellite connectivity service (July 23).
Tahawul Tech
2 days ago
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
T-Mobile locks in launch window for U.S. satellite
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert recently announced that the company's T-Satellite service is expected to launch nationwide on 23 July. Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products, said the T-Satellite service provisioned by Starlink will officially launch next month to provide service across more than 500,000 square miles that are not connected by traditional cell towers. 'We have 657 [Starlink] satellites in orbit supporting real customers with this service today', Katz said. 'We're also the first and only mobile provider that has a cellular-to-satellite service that allows you to automatically connect without doing anything'. Katz explained 75 per cent of the phones used by T-Mobile customers will work on the satellite service. 'Pretty much any phone that was manufactured over the last four years works on T-Satellite,' he said. T-Mobile is wrapping up its beta test of the satellite service with more than 1.8 million users, including hundreds of thousands of customers from AT&T and Verizon. Verizon and AT&T customers need eSIM-capable and unlocked phones to access the service, but they don't need to switch to T-Mobile During the beta, more than a million messages were sent from remote areas of the US without traditional cellular service. 'One of the things that we've seen during the beta is customers send many more messages than they send,' Katz said. 'In fact, three times more.' The satellite service will be included at no additional cost for subscribers of its Go5G Next and Experience Beyond plans while everyone else, including AT&T and Verizon customers, will pay $10 per month. The service will support SMS for both Android and iOS devices as well as picture messaging and short audio clips. On 1 October, a data service will go live. On the same date in October, Katz said the operator will also be 'making 911 texting available to all customers on all networks, as long as they have a compatible phone'. 'Also, today we're announcing we are welcoming any developer who wants to optimise their app and bring it to our customers on our satellite network can do so,' Katz said. 'The SDKs are available from Google, the APIs are available from Apple, and open to app developers today.' In addition to Apple and Google, T-Mobile is working with AccuWeather, AllTrails, WhatsApp and X on developing satellite-enabled apps. Source: Mobile World Live Image Credit: Stock Image/T-Mobile
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
T-Mobile announces free new perk for customers after major loss
T-Mobile (TMUS) is boosting its efforts to win back customers, after a series of price increases prompted many to cut ties during the first few months of the year. T-Mobile's first-quarter earnings report for 2025 revealed that the company's postpaid phone churn, the number of customers who cut their phone service, increased by 5 basis points year-over-year during the quarter. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Also, while T-Mobile attracted 495,000 new postpaid phone customers during the quarter, that number is 6% lower than the amount it gained during the same time period in 2024. Related: T-Mobile announces bold offer to win back frustrated customers The loss of customers comes after T-Mobile increased prices for some of its older phone plans last year. In April, it once again hiked the monthly rate for select legacy phone plans by $5. That same month, it also decided to increase its Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee from $3.49 to $3.99 for voice lines and $1.40 to $1.60 for data-only lines. In response to these changes, some customers expressed outrage on social media, with some even threatening to switch phone providers. During an earnings call in April, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said that customers have "a lot of acceptance" of recent price increases and that the elevated loss of customers was due to "a number of dynamics," such as concerns about the economy and increased competition. "You know, I think there's a certain element out there where people are in a time of uncertainty about the future, grabbing what they can afford now," said Sievert during the call. "And so, you're seeing kind of some amount of probably move forward of upgrades and switching." Image source:Amid this startling trend, T-Mobile is offering a free new perk to attract and retain customers. The phone carrier has announced that starting July 8, T-Mobile customers will get a free DoorDash subscription (DashPass), which offers free delivery, reduced service fees, exclusive offers on eligible orders and rideshare partner discounts. A DashPass subscription usually costs $10 per month or $120 annually. Related: Verizon pulls the plug on a convenient service for customers Customers can claim this free perk in the T-Mobile Tuesdays section of the T-Life app through Aug. 4. The offer will return next year. In addition to touting the free DashPass subscription, T-Mobile revealed that its highly anticipated T-Satellite service launches on July 23. It also unveiled a new Easy Upgrade offer to attract customers from rival companies. "You can choose to get your phone paid off (up to $800) and get a new iPhone Pro on us without a trade OR bring the whole family and T-Mobile will help you pay off four phones and get four iPhone 16s on Us - all for $100/month," said T-Mobile in a press release. These offers from T-Mobile follow its launch of three new low-priced prepaid plans on June 24, each with a five-year price lock guarantee. More Retail: Costco quietly plans to offer a convenient service for customersT-Mobile pulls the plug on generous offer, angering customersAT&T makes generous offer to older customers T-Mobile also reportedly partnered with Costco to offer the retailer's members a deal (expected to launch in July) that gives them $450 if they switch to T-Mobile and purchase/activate a new phone on its Experience More or Experience Beyond plan. T-Mobile's increased efforts to win back customers come as it faces increased competition from Verizon and AT&T and, surprisingly, cable companies, which have also recently attracted price-conscious phone customers. According to a recent report from MoffettNathanson, Spectrum, Comcast, and Altice USA have added 886,000 new phone customers during the first three months of 2025, which is up from the 804,000 they added during the same time period last year. Related: Costco to make generous offer to frustrated phone customers The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
T-Mobile CEO talks cellphone pricing, new Starlink service
T-Mobile (TMUS) is rolling out satellite coverage nationwide on July 23. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert speaks with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to address rumors that he's stepping down early, explain how the new T-Satellite service aims to end dead zones for just $10 a month, and discuss the outlook for cellphone costs. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid here. For today's Power Play, I had the chance to sit down with T-Mobile CEO and Starbucks board member Mike Sievert. Here's what stood out to me. First, Sievert pushed back on a recent report that he would be leaving the CEO role early, plus T-Mobile confirmed the launch date of its new Starlink satellite service called, uh, appropriately T-Satellite. Here's what he had to say. That report was a bit overblown. And so they got a lot of things about it wrong, including the idea that anybody's made any decisions about leaving anytime soon. But they didn't get wrong one thing, which is yes, we did recruit Srini with the idea of succession planning in mind. And I would tell you that any business should be thinking about these things. That's not bad news, that's good news. You know, every big move I make in the people arena is about making sure that the secret sauce of this company is here for the long run and will outlive any of us. And bringing Srini on was a part of that story. He is a fantastic leader that turned around a major German operation as CEO, and he's already adding great value here. But that is not to say that there's been any decision by me or anyone else about me stepping away anytime soon. T-Satellite news, uh, it's supposed to launch commercially July 23rd. What is this service? What will it let you do? Well, it's the largest satellite to cellular network in the world. And we've been talking about this future for almost three years now when we first unveiled it from Starbase in Texas in August of 2022. Back then it was a tech alliance that we had a dream of inventing a technology that meant one simple thing. If you can see the sky, you're connected. This is the end of dead zones. And you know there's 500,000 square miles in this country that are not reached by any cellular network, not AT&T, not Verizon. And so now, you know, this is about bringing that service to the American public and we're opening the doors to everyone. T-Mobile customers get it for free on some plans, but anybody, T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon doesn't matter. Anybody can have it for just $10 a month. It's built in to our um experience beyond plan, which is our in our most popular line of plans to Go 5G next, our previous flagship plan. And for everyone else, it's just 10 bucks a month. And think about the peace of mind of being reachable because, you know, the way this works is it works with the phone you already have by and large. Um and it connects automatically. This is very different from anything that's come before. So you don't know if you've fallen off the terrestrial network and it won't matter because your phone will automatically connect to the satellite without you doing a video game of trying to connect. And that way you're reachable. And we found in the beta with over a million users that over two-thirds of the messages were actually inbound messages from others trying to reach you when you're out in the wild. Recently Mike, uh, T-Mobile, um, launched a five-year price lock, um, for its its phone plans. Definitely I think, uh, surprised a few folks in industry, uh, shook up in the industry. What have been some of your learnings since the launch? Well, you know, people are concerned and there's a lot of uncertainty out there in the world. Prices are up in everything, they're up in telecom as well. Um, and they want some assurance from the value leader, which is T-Mobile, that we're going to have their back. And value comes in multiple forms. You know, one form is the price you pay. And now the price you pay won't change for five years. Why are phone plans so high? Well, I I I would say it the other way, which is, why haven't they risen? In real dollars, you pay the same amount now you did in 2019 for phone service on average, but you're consuming, uh, three times more data at four times the speed. That's the 5G dividend. The American consumer, not T-Mobile customers, the American consumer is consuming three times more data at four times the speed for the same price in real dollars. Name another industry that's delivering that kind of value. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
4 days ago
- USA Today
T-Mobile's Starlink-powered satellite network can text 911 from virtually anywhere
Thinking about how your smartphone gets connected probably isn't high on the list of things you worry about. After all, for the most part, mobile phones are now pretty reliable across a lot of different locations. But what if you could get connected — at least on a basic level — virtually anywhere? It turns out the technology to do just that is coming soon to nearly all newer model smartphones, courtesy of T-Mobile. First, though, some background on cellular network developments. A few years back, the big excitement in the world of connectivity was 5G. In retrospect, the reality of that technology didn't live up to the hype of what some had promised. (Robotic surgery, anyone?) But the truth is, the enormous amount of effort and money invested to make 5G service as ubiquitous as it is now has made the experience of using our latest generation iPhones, Android phones and other devices significantly more speedy, satisfying and robust. Updating wireless networks to support 5G and other future network technologies also entailed a shifting of the landscape within the telecommunications industry. While much of the work centers around the technical details of frequency spectrum availability and usage, network architecture, and other factors that don't matter to consumers, the practical outcome has been a different perspective on the reach and capabilities of different carriers. In fact, based on recent speed and coverage tests, T-Mobile is now claiming they have the most reliable complete network (including 5G and 4G) in the country. While there will undoubtedly be debate on the specifics, there's no doubt that T-Mobile has dramatically raised its presence over the last few years in large part because of the work they've put into the 5G network. Even more importantly, the behind-the-scenes network buildout for 5G also laid the groundwork for the next big step in wireless connectivity: satellite-based service. Back in February, T-Mobile announced the debut and beta testing launch of a service called T-Satellite that was being made available not only to T-Mobile customers, but even those currently using either AT&T or Verizon (see T-Mobile's new Starlink offering makes satellite phones mainstream for more, including a detailed explanation of how the service works). T-Satellite provides support for text and MMS messaging to start. It is included with T-Mobile's Experience Beyond plan for free, and is $10/month for everyone else (including AT&T and Verizon customers). Now, as part of the official commercial launch of that service — which kicks off on July 23 — T-Mobile announced a very important new benefit. Starting on October 1, any phone that qualifies for it (see a current list of qualifying phones here) can get access to the satellite service to send texts to 911, regardless of their carrier, at no charge. In other words, even if you're an AT&T or Verizon customer (as well as a T-Mobile one, of course) and you have an iPhone 13 or later, Samsung Galaxy A25 and S21 onward, the Z Flip and Z Fold 3 and forward, a Google Pixel 9, or the 2024 and 2025 versions of the Motorola razr, edge and moto g phones, you will have access to a new free safety net. There is one important step that will be required to leverage the service, and that involves adding an eSIM account for the satellite service to your existing phone. Final details will apparently be released closer to the October 1 launch, but it basically entails going into your phone's cellular settings and adding a plan or network connection. What it's really doing is letting your phone know there's another network that it can connect to if you happen to be where the service is available. Again, there will be no charge for 911 access. Right now, unless you sign up for T-Mobile's service, you won't be able to enable this, but details will be forthcoming. Like most U.S. carriers, T-Mobile's traditional cellular service generally only covers more populated areas. Geographically speaking, that translates to about 2/3 of the continental U.S., or 2.6 million of 3.1 million square miles. The new satellite-based options extend that reach to virtually the entire continental United States. For emergency purposes, this is an enormous deal, because it allows people to reach out for help from nearly anywhere. It's a fantastic example of technology having a huge positive impact, and there's absolutely no doubt that this service is going to save lives. Kudos to T-Mobile for making the service available. In order for T-Satellite to work, you need to be able to see the sky (in other words, not buried in a forest of trees or inside a cave). Unlike some of the earlier satellite services, such as those from Apple, the connection is done virtually automatically and doesn't require waving your phone towards the sky. The T-Satellite service essentially works like roaming onto a different network when you are in an area (or another country) where your primary service provider doesn't have cellular service. When you get into an area outside of normal coverage, it automatically switches to the satellite service, then shows a T-Mobile/Starlink connection and logo at the top of your phone screen. Once a connection is established, you can send a text to 911 at no charge. In addition to the free 911 service, T-Mobile also announced that on October 1, it will be adding some simple data-based services to paying customers of T-Satellite as well. To start, the company will offer support for AllTrails, Accuweather, WhatsApp and some still-to-be-named apps from Apple and Google. Support for video calls and other applications will be coming at a later date. While the T-Satellite service may not get you everything you've come to expect from your smartphone, it is a big step in the right direction for people who want connections in even more places. USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst ofTECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter@bobodtech.
