satellite Review: A German Mobile Number Without a SIM

If you run an online shop, sooner or later you need a business phone number: for your legal notice, for suppliers, for customers. Most people who hand out their private mobile number for this regret it the first time the phone rings on a Sunday evening.

satellite solves this with an app. You get a real German mobile number (prefix 015678) that runs entirely over your internet connection. No second SIM, no second phone, no mobile contract. The basic version is free, and with satellite Business there is now a team version with a shared company number.

We looked at what the app can do, what it costs and where its limits are. One of them is serious enough that you should know it before signing up.

What is satellite?

satellite is an app for iOS and Android that assigns you a German mobile number from the 015678 number block when you set it up. Calls run over your data connection, so over Wi-Fi or mobile data. For the person you’re calling, it looks like a completely normal mobile call.

The provider is sipgate GmbH from Düsseldorf, founded in 2004 and one of the first VoIP providers in Germany. satellite itself launched in 2018; in 2023 the company reported more than 500,000 users. That means the free app is backed by a provider that has been running telephony for twenty years and, by its own account, processes its data in Germany.

The concept differs from services like Skype or WhatsApp in one fundamental way: you get a full phone number in the German telephone network. Anyone can call you, from any phone, without installing an app themselves.

How setup works

You download the app (iOS 15 or later, Android 6 or later), verify yourself and have a working number a few minutes later. You don’t need a SIM or eSIM; the app runs alongside your normal mobile contract on the same device. Using it on several devices at once, say phone and tablet, works too.

Two device limitations: on the iPad the app only runs in compatibility mode, and newer Huawei devices without Google services are left out. There is no desktop or browser version for private users so far.

Video: satellite in three minutes

The channel Know your Saas sums up in a good three minutes how satellite works and who the app suits (video in German):

What does satellite cost?

The basic version is permanently free and includes 100 minutes of calls per month to 61 countries (landline and mobile), a mailbox and worldwide reachability. If you call more, you book Flatrate+ for €4.99 a month: unlimited calls to the same countries, a customizable voicemail and configurable availability hours. Both can be cancelled monthly.

For teams there is satellite Business. The complete package costs €44.95 per team per month and includes a shared company number with a team inbox, either as a mobile or landline number, plus up to 10 team members, each with their own business mobile number and 100 free minutes per person. Smaller configurations start at €19.95. There are no setup fees, cancellation is monthly, and you can try it for free.

Prices last checked on August 10, 2026 (satellite.me and landing.satellite.me).

For context: the sister product sipgate business, a classic cloud phone system, starts at €12.95 per user per month according to the February 2026 price list. satellite Business charges per team instead. For a small team with several numbers, that is an unusually low entry price.

satellite Business in detail

The business version is more than a shared number. Calls to the company number land in a shared inbox where every team member sees missed calls and voicemails. On top come features you’d otherwise expect from phone systems: voice menus (IVR), time-based routing for opening hours, absence and holiday filters, greeting announcements, call forwarding and parallel calls across several channels. Everything is managed through a web interface for admins, and single sign-on via SAML 2.0 is included.

For a small online shop this adds up to a workable setup: the landline or mobile number goes into your legal notice and contact page, an announcement catches calls outside business hours, and when employees join later, they get their own number in the same team. Moving from the solo app to the team package works without switching providers.

The limits: SMS, emergency calls, reachability

Now for the most important section of this review. satellite has three limitations that the provider itself documents and that you need to know.

The biggest: there is no SMS. No sending, no receiving, and that since the launch in 2018. Verification texts from banks, payment services or 2FA logins simply never arrive on a satellite number. sipgate says it has been working on receiving verification texts for years but will only release the feature once it works reliably. Until then: wherever a service insists on sending an SMS, you cannot use this number. WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Threema work because they offer verification by phone call instead.

Second: emergency calls don’t run through satellite. If you dial 112, the app hands the call to your phone’s native dialer, which only works with a SIM in the device. As the only number on a SIM-free device, satellite is therefore not a complete solution.

Third, reachability depends on your internet connection. In app store reviews and forums, users report incoming calls that never ring through, especially on poor connections or when the operating system puts the app to sleep in the background. Other users disagree and have been calling without problems for years. One pattern emerges from the reports: for outgoing calls the app is reliable; for passive reachability, watch how it behaves in your daily routine before porting any important number.

What users say

In the German Apple App Store, satellite sits at 4.7 out of 5 stars from more than 12,000 ratings, on Google Play at around 4.1 from about 16,000. Users praise the simple setup, the call quality on a stable connection and the value as a second number for separating private and business life.

Trustpilot looks different: 2.9 out of 5, though from only about two dozen reviews, mostly collecting support and individual-case frustration. With five-figure store numbers on one side and two dozen Trustpilot voices on the other, we consider the store ratings the more reliable picture. The Trustpilot complaints (slow support, verification problems) do also appear occasionally in store reviews.

Who is satellite for?

The biggest winners are founders and small teams who need a business number and don’t want a second mobile contract. The free version is enough to start: put the number in your legal notice, connect WhatsApp Business via call verification, done. As the shop grows, satellite Business with a shared company number and opening-hours routing is the logical next step.

If you travel a lot, you can use the German number over any Wi-Fi worldwide, without roaming charges for incoming calls. satellite is not suitable as a replacement for your main number as long as SMS is missing and emergency calls don’t work. And if you need a call center with queue statistics, a full cloud phone system like sipgate business or Placetel is the better fit.

Alternatives

The most direct competitor is CLINQ, also an app-based number from Düsseldorf. Classic cloud phone systems like sipgate business (from €12.95 per user), Placetel, fonial or easybell offer more PBX features but charge per user and mostly focus on landline numbers. The combination of a free entry point, a real mobile number and a flat-priced team package is currently unique to satellite.

Is satellite worth it?

For the purpose satellite was built for, we can recommend it: a second, business phone number without a SIM and without running costs, with an affordable upgrade path for teams. Setup takes minutes, an established German provider stands behind the service, and the business package costs less than most per-seat plans of classic phone systems.

The 4.1 rating instead of a higher one has one main reason: the SMS feature that has been missing for years. It rules out part of the use cases people actually want a second number for. If you can live with that and mainly need the number for calling, you get a lot here for very little money. The easiest way to find out is to try it yourself; the free version costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Frequently asked questions about satellite