T-Mobile tests using Starlink to send emergency alerts you can get off the grid
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
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…
