Wilson Connectivity has begun selling a $149.99 signal booster that lets standard smartphones connect to low Earth orbit satellites from inside moving vehicles, targeting a gap in T-Mobile US's rapidly commercialising direct-to-device (D2D) service.

The device, branded weBoost Sky, went on sale on 28 September through weBoost's online store, major US retail chains and specialist radio-frequency dealers. It supports PCS Band-25, the spectrum T-Mobile US currently uses for its T-Satellite service operated with SpaceX's Starlink constellation.

Built for the market leader

Bruce Lancaster, CEO of Wilson Connectivity, told Mobile World Live the company accelerated work on the product after T-Mobile US and SpaceX launched the T-Satellite beta around the 2025 Super Bowl in February.

"It's time to productise that," Lancaster recalled telling the weBoost general manager at the time. He said the project drew on Wilson's earlier research into Starlink and rural connectivity.

Wilson prioritised Band-25 because T-Mobile and Starlink are furthest into commercial satellite deployment among D2D players, Lancaster explained. Compatible phones can switch between nearby terrestrial Band-25 towers and satellite coverage as needed, so the booster serves both links without user intervention.

The uplink problem

The engineering problem weBoost Sky addresses is straightforward: a vehicle's body weakens the radio link between a handset and satellites orbiting hundreds of miles overhead. Modern glazing compounds the difficulty, with low-emissivity glass designed to block radiation doing exactly that to cellular signals.

"The issue really here is an uplink," Lancaster said. "It's not the downlink that's usually the limiter; it's the uplink connectivity that's the problem."

A phone transmitting on its own puts out roughly 200 milliwatts. The booster raises that to 1 watt — the maximum the Federal Communications Commission permits for consumer signal boosters. That fivefold increase in uplink power should make satellite messaging more reliable for users outside terrestrial coverage.

The FCC limit is the binding constraint here, not the hardware: Wilson has engineered to the regulatory ceiling, and any future relaxation of the power rule would be the most direct path to further gains.

Roof-mounted design

The amplifier and external antenna sit in a roof-mounted unit roughly the size of a double stack of playing cards. A coaxial cable connects it to a small interior antenna inside the cabin, and the unit draws power through USB-C or a vehicle's cigarette-lighter socket.

Installation is deliberately simple. The unit attaches magnetically to steel roofs, with an adhesive plate available for aluminium or composite body panels. Mounting the antenna outside the vehicle also limits interference from the roof itself and low-emissivity glass.

Target market

Wilson sees demand from forestry crews, field workers and fleets that regularly travel beyond terrestrial coverage — users for whom a dropped satellite message in remote terrain is an operational problem rather than an inconvenience. Lancaster expects the stronger uplink to make satellite messaging dependably reliable for these groups.

The commercial context matters. T-Mobile launched its Starlink-based T-Satellite beta to widespread attention at the Super Bowl in February 2025, and direct-to-device messaging has since moved from demo to paying service. But D2D service on standard handsets remains constrained by antenna size and transmit power, which is precisely the gap a third-party booster can fill without requiring a purpose-built satellite phone.

Wilson Connectivity — formerly Wilson Electronics — manufactures its hardware in St George, Utah, runs an R&D centre in Dallas, Texas, and maintains a location in Cambridge, UK.

With T-Mobile and SpaceX continuing to expand T-Satellite coverage and other operators racing to catch up, Wilson has positioned weBoost Sky as an accessory for the market that moved first — and a template it could replicate for other operators' D2D bands as those services mature.