Collaborating in the aim of predicting Hurricane Milton
Starlink and T-Mobile receive permission from the Federal Communications Commission to turn on their satellite messaging service in Florida because of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Milton. T-Mobile announced that it will be using SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell satellites to send emergency alerts to all of its subscribers’ phones, and not only to those of T-Mobile, in the affected territories.
An emergency relief delivery service
It remains also noteworthy that both companies have allowed for T-Mobile subscribers basic capabilities of messages. This will enable them to send and receive messages and even reach 911 and text message in the event of a storm cutting them off from the carrier network.
In other words, a rather basic and still an experimental technology.
However Starlink and T-Mobile’s Direct to Cell service is not fully fully rolled out yet. The text messages using this technology were for the first time only sent and received last January. T-Mobile said that it has deployed a trial version of this service in the areas impacted by the hurricane.
Is there a way I can be sure that the service is functioning?
Users will understand when their phone is connected to a Starlink satellite, when the signal indicates that they have only one or two bars left, and if the name of the network they are connected to is T-Mobile SpaceX. Starlink added that the service is exceptionally good when used outside. Failing to do that, users can also attempt to send the messages indoors, but close to the window where they can get fresh air.
