Phone satellite coverage may soon come to Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

The days of peaceful, internet-free camping trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness may soon be over.

Tech companies will soon offer satellite service to ordinary cell phones that would improve coverage and safety in remote areas — including in some of Minnesota’s most beautifully remote regions. It also means travelers could be subject to a barrage of calls and texts while trying to escape the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Service currently extends as far as the Gunflint Trail, where AT&T installed a 200-foot cell tower in 2020 following controversy among those who prefer that the region stays off the grid.

AT&T and AST SpaceMobile announced an agreement on Wednesday to provide their first space-based broadband network to ordinary cell phones. AST SpaceMobile plans to deliver five commercial satellites to Cape Canaveral for launch into low Earth orbit as soon as this summer.

“There are many situations where dead zones outside will become a thing of the past thanks to the reach of a satellite solution providing two-way connectivity,” the tech company said in a statement.

SpaceX and T-Mobile launched the first six Starlink satellites equipped with direct-to-device service in January. They plan to begin to offer text service this year and expect to expand with other services in 2025.