Elon Musk announced that Starlink is working with T-Mobile to give Hurricane Milton victims cell service.
More than ten thousand Starlink kits have already been delivered to Hurricane Helene victims.
“We have accelerated the rollout of Starlink direct to cell phone connectivity for areas affected by the hurricanes,” Musk wrote on X. “This is being provided free of charge by SpaceX and TMobile to help those in need.”
SpaceX’s X account explained that “[i]f a phone connects to a Starlink satellite, it will have 1 to 2 bars of signal and show ‘T-Mobile SpaceX’ in the network name. Users may have to manually retry text messages if they don’t go through at first, as this is being delivered on a best-effort basis. The service works best outdoors, and occasionally works indoors near a window.”
Musk previously accused FEMA of blocking Starlink shipments to areas affected by hurricanes. In a social media post, Musk said a SpaceX engineer told him, “Hey Elon, update here on site of Asheville, NC. We have powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks and outpour is it has saved many lives.”
“The big issue is FEMA is actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own,” the engineer said. “It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping. We are blocked now on the shipments of new starlinks coming in until we get an escort from the fire dept. but that may not be enough.”
