Verizon‘s previously announced satellite messaging service is now available for owners of certain Android smartphones, the company said in a statement. The service is available to Verizon customers at no extra charge, although you will need a Google Pixel 9 or Samsung Galaxy S25 phone to use it. The service allows people to send and receive text messages via satellite when they are out of cellular coverage. Recipients can be on any network or device.
Texting via satellite is all the rage right now. Apple added the ability to send non-urgent messages via satellite to the latest iPhone models in iOS 18. T-Mobile has just introduced its Starlink-based satellite messaging service, which anyone can try, regardless of their primary carrier. For now, the service is free, but T-Mobile will charge a monthly fee when it is fully launched this summer. Both AT&T and Verizon are working on additional connectivity with SpaceMobile’s AST to make video calls and send multimedia data via satellite. If all goes well, dead zones could become a lot less dead in the near future.
Verizon is rolling out the necessary updates to enable the service starting today and “will continue over the next two weeks,” according to today’s press release. It looks like the race to 5G has now turned into a space race.
