T-Mobile makes big claims with T-Sat, but does it deliver?

T-Mobile has routinely emphasized its T-Sat by Starlink service in its advertising, going as far as to say, “If customers can see the sky, they’re connected” and other similar statements. The claim certainly sounds great on paper, but based on my own experience with T-Sat, the truth is a lot more complicated than what the company promises to deliver. With its most recent ruling, it seems that the National Advertising Division agrees.

AT&T previously brought a number of complaints around T-Mobile’s recent marketing claims to the NAD’s attention. After reviewing the claims, NAD made several recommendations. T-Mobile compiled on some of the changes, but not without appealing the decision.

After taking time to consider the matter, the NAD’s National Advertising Review Board gas determined it still feels the claims around the Un-Carrier’s satellite service are misleading.

The NAD says that the current marketing implies universal coverage.

That’s decisively not the case, as there are many situations where T-Mobile is still technically connected to a terrestrial signal but too weak to actually do anything. Since there’s no actual outage, the phone won’t attempt to connect to the T-Sat service.

As it stands, the NARB panel still recommends that T-Mobile discontinue the claim that the sky is all it takes to connect to T-Mobile, including the use of the marketing slogan, “No matter where you are, you will never miss a moment [with T-Satellite].” Hopefully, the matter will soon be resolved for good, as T-Mobile indicated that it will “comply with the panel’s recommendations.”

In all fairness to T-Mobile, the satellite claims might have been a bit exaggerated, but that doesn’t mean the service isn’t potentially useful for its customers. It’s just that the emphasis originally put on its availability was a bit too bold.