Today, T-Mobile held a press event at its 5G labs called ‘Trade-offs left the chat’, a play on the idea that T-Mobile subscribers do not have to choose between the best network and the best value. T-Mobile argues the carrier has both. T-Mobile made three announcements today: a T-Satellite update, a network performance update, and a new Magenta Status freebie from DoorDash.

It was an impressive day of announcements. T-Satellite was the headliner. T-Satellite is T-Mobile’s satellite backup service when cellular connectivity is not available. 1.8 million customers have signed up for the beta satellite service, showing high interest in this soon-to-be revenue-generating service.

On July 23^rd, T-Satellite begins beta testing for text-based RCS and iMessage. Text beta has been in place. I tried it over the weekend, and text messages worked seamlessly in a remote part of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, well out of cellular connectivity. New is MMS support.

On October 1st, T-Mobile will roll out a satellite data service for $10/month, where users will have access to many key apps. T-Mobile’s partner for T-Satellite is Starlink. T-Mobile has a catchy tagline of “You won’t believe where I am right now.” T-Mobile showcased how it has saved lives with 911 calls in out-of-cellular coverage areas. There is likely a target market for adventurers hiking, biking, sailing, or other activities outside of cellular coverage.  T-Mobile will offer the 911 service to all T-Mobile customers. It will also offer T-Satellite service to subscribers of other carriers.

The beta service for T-Satellite is impressively simple and offers clear differentiation from competitors. When a subscriber is not in cellular coverage, a small satellite image is seen in the top right corner of the smartphone, where connectivity is displayed. No settings need to be changed. The fallback to satellite is as seamless as the fallback to 4G from 5G.

T-Mobile gave a network update, which featured a #1 network ranking by Ookla, a global leader in connectivity insights and network testing. The carrier bragged about its lead in 5G coverage. T-Mobile claims its subscribers are on 5G 74% of the time—over double its competitors. The carrier credits its lead to the broader coverage it has with its 2.5GHz spectrum vs. other carriers’ C Band spectrum. T-Mobile claims 2.5GHz gives 1.5x the coverage of C-Band. The carrier has about 83,000 towers. It makes the claim that this is 15% more than its competitors. Finally, the company proclaims a 2-year lead in 5G standalone core, a lead in network slicing implementation, and 5G advanced rollout.

There were two other Magenta service announcements. T-Mobile subscribers will receive DashPass by DoorDash for free. DoorDash is a delivery service and DashPass members pay no delivery fees---on average a $4 -$5 savings on each purchase. Finally, T-Mobile announced ‘Easy Upgrade’. T-Mobile will pay off phone balances of Verizon subscribers and give them a new flagship smartphone—no trade-in needed. This is an aggressive and expensive move targeted at Verizon subscribers.

For further insights, Counterpoint's Channel Share Tracker covers the monthly model-level sales of US smartphones by channel.