T-Mobile outage puts T-Satellite with Starlink under the spotlight
T-Mobile apologized for a nationwide outage as some customers said its Starlink-backed T-Satellite service failed to connect.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
T-Mobile apologized after a nationwide T-Mobile outage on Monday left many customers across the U.S. without mobile service for hours, and some users said the carrier’s Starlink-backed T-Satellite option did not kick in when they expected it to.
T-Mobile has not said what caused the outage. The service disruption also raised a sharper question for customers who knew about the company’s satellite pitch: if the towers were down, why were some phones still stuck without a connection?
What is T-Satellite?
T-Satellite is T-Mobile’s satellite phone service built through its partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and T-Mobile announced the tie-up in 2022, and T-Mobile launched the service for customers last summer after a test period earlier in the year.
On its T-Satellite with Starlink product page, T-Mobile says the service “connects you where towers can’t.” T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan said on an earnings call last Thursday that satellite service is meant to sit alongside regular cellular service rather than replace it, according to PCMag.
The service is included on some T-Mobile plans, including the $100-per-month Experience Beyond plan. Customers whose plans do not include T-Satellite can add it for $10 per month, according to T-Mobile’s pricing.
Why didn't T-Satellite connect during the T-Mobile outage?
There is no confirmed explanation for why some customers reported problems using T-Satellite during Monday’s outage. On X, several users questioned why their phones did not switch to the satellite service, while another said their phone tried to find a satellite and failed.
One possible factor is line of sight. Starlink’s support page says connectivity requires “a wide, clear view of the open sky,” and that roofs, poles and trees can weaken or block the signal. That means a phone may struggle to connect by satellite even in an area where the service is available.
The reports were not all bad. Mashable reported finding users on X and Reddit who said they were able to connect to T-Satellite during the same Monday outage.
T-Mobile says satellite usage has been tiny
Gopalan has also signaled that T-Satellite has not become a major part of T-Mobile network use. On an April 2026 earnings call, he called the Starlink partnership “very strong,” but said T-Mobile was “seeing a lot less usage than we were originally thinking,” according to PCMag.
At a conference in May 2026, Gopalan said satellite accounted for 0.0002% of T-Mobile’s total network usage. On last Thursday’s earnings call, he said that figure rose to 0.0003% during the busiest summer months, PCMag reported.
Independent data from Ookla, the parent company of Speedtest.net, found that T-Satellite usage has largely declined. T-Mobile said at launch that 1.8 million customers had signed up for the free T-Satellite beta, but the company has not released subscription figures since.
Mashable said it contacted T-Mobile for more information about T-Satellite and Monday’s outage. No further explanation from T-Mobile was included.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.