Here’s how T-Mobile’s satellite messaging held up in California backcountry.
On the fourth night of my hike on the John Muir Trail, I finally turned my phone on. I’d kept it off for days to save my single battery pack, but I was also homesick. I’d only ever done long-distance hiking with my dad, and now I was deep into a 120-mile trek with six strangers. It felt silly to admit as a grown woman, but two weeks in the American backcountry without my dad felt lonelier than I’d expected.
I kept my phone off for the first three days. With only one battery pack and a desire for some early separation, I didn’t want to waste power on unproven tech. The rhythm of hiking creates its own kind of meditation: one foot in front of the other through Jeffrey pines and meadows of shooting stars.
But on night four at Palisade Lakes, after we’d hauled freshly resupplied packs weighing 40-plus pounds up the brutal Golden Staircase, the length and intensity of our trip really sank in. The next day, we’d be coming up on Mather Pass, and I was intimidated to say the least.
I hunched over my phone in my tent and tentatively turned off airplane mode, curious to see what would happen. I was part of T-Mobile’s beta testing group for T-Satellite with Starlink, a service that uses satellites to deliver connectivity where cell towers can’t reach.
During my hike, the beta service offered only text messaging, and a flood of texts poured in, along with a wave of emotion. There were encouraging messages from friends, and most importantly, from my dad.
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I texted him about conquering the Golden Staircase, about my aching shoulders, and the alpine lakes that made it worthwhile. His response came through about a minute later. Pride, encouragement, and the reminder that I was capable. The next morning, I woke ready for Mather Pass.
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Unlike Apple’s satellite system, which requires manual reconnection each time, T-Satellite stayed connected as long as I remained in the dead zone. A small satellite icon appeared in my menu bar with the banner “You’re messaging by satellite.” From there, texting worked almost normally.
According to a T-Mobile representative, “Once you are out of reach of a tower, your phone will switch to T-Satellite. You don’t need to hold your phone up to stay connected, it just works.”
The service uses 650 Starlink satellites integrated directly into T-Mobile’s network, making it compatible with most smartphones made in the last four years.
For me, messages were sometimes sent instantly, and other times, took a minute or two. On exposed passes like Mather and Pinchot, the service was consistent. In valleys or heavier tree cover, it slowed but still went through. I could even text from inside my tent at camp without needing to stand in an open meadow pointing my phone skyward (a necessity for my hiking buddies who only had Apple’s satellite capabilities).
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The most striking contrast came at a moment on Mount Whitney’s summit. We stood at 14,505 feet, the highest point in the contiguous U.S. Suddenly, we had actual cell service, at the very top of the mountain. A friend FaceTimed her parents, and another hiker cried as she called her husband. After days of satellite texting my way through the backcountry, watching the video calls felt almost surreal. I tried to FaceTime my dad, too, but in a twist of connection irony, he was out of cell service while on his own day hike.
The lack of connectivity in the backwoods can be a boon that brings revelations and peace, but it can also often cause tragedies.
“T-Satellite raises the baseline for backcountry safety by giving people a lifeline on the device they already carry,” says a T-Mobile representative. “With Text to 911 capabilities and use of essential apps off the grid, hikers have more ways to stay connected and get help if they need it.”
I was traveling with two guides from Wildland Trekking, so emergency support wasn’t top of mind. But had I been hiking solo, T-Satellite would have brought my family and me a sense of relief. Now that the service has expanded to include AllTrails integration, it’s even more of a safety net.
T-Satellite is included on specific T-Mobile plans or available for $10 monthly on 60+ devices, but whether it’s worth it comes down to how you want to move through the backcountry. If you crave complete disconnection, you might not want it. But if you’re like me, someone who finds comfort in the option of staying connected even from remote places, it offers a sense of security. I can keep my phone on airplane mode when I want that disconnection, but turning it back on and accessing support is just a few buttons away.
The backcountry experience is evolving with technology, but I hope that adding satellite connectivity doesn’t diminish the wildness. I hope it expands accessibility and allows us to move through it with less anxiety.
