Satellite cell service might be one of the best innovations in cellular in recent memory. The idea of dead spots being eliminated completely is extremely compelling, and if it’s pulled off right, it might just change the way we use our phones forever.
T-Mobile has been testing the results of its partnership with SpaceX for a while, and the results have been pretty good. Now that testing is open to everyone, not just T-Mobile customers, T-Mobile is using the opportunity to bribe customers on competitor networks to switch over.
According to an internal document shared with us here at The Mobile Report, T-Mobile is launching a new promotion today in which it will offer a free year of Starlink satellite cell coverage to eligible customers who switch to T-Mobile. This offer is exclusively available to new customers, and likely only to those that have already signed up for the beta.
To qualify, individuals must be registered for the Starlink beta program. If you haven’t already, and are interested, you may want to go ahead and sign up now. Then, you’ll need to port their existing phone number to T-Mobile before the Starlink beta period concludes in July. Presumably, the offer works for any of T-Mobile’s current plans, and not just the Go5G Next plan, which already gets Starlink access for free.
We should note that that this promotion is only available through T-Mobile’s Virtual Retail channel, which means online sales. Both Care (call-in) and Retail personnel are instructed to transfer customers with questions about the Starlink offer to the Virtual Retail team, so you won’t be able to walk into a store to claim this.
The offer is pretty decent, as it means you won’t need to pay an extra $15 per month per line for satellite service, at least for a full year. Plus, if you sign up for multiple lines at once, you’ll get the free year on every one of those lines.
This offer is sadly just exclusive to new users, so existing customers are out of luck on this particular promo. If you’ve been on the fence about switching to T-Mobile from another carrier, though, and live in an area with lots of deadzones, perhaps now it’s the time to do so.
If you’re not a T-Mobile customer and you’re in the Starlink beta, keep an eye out for an email detailing the promotion. It’s a targeted offer, and while we suspect everyone eligible will receive the offer, we don’t know for sure.
