Service?
"and the service they will receive "mirrors the experience of existing 4G and 5G mobile networks,"
Excellent, so calls dropping, unintelligible audio and terrible service indoors. Nice
Vodafone claims it has made the first mobile video call using a satellite connection and standard 4G/5G smartphones, and said it aims to offer a commercial direct-to-cell satellite service in Europe starting later this year. The telecoms giant says the video call was made between one of its engineers, Rowan Chesmer, who was in …
Eyes skyward! My work phone is only ever used for company IT resource 2FA, my personal phone for website 2FA and payment authorisation.
The number of times these timed out as I used to wander around the house/garden/street trying to get the signals!
This is in an areas where all the networks say I should get both 3G and 4G indoors.
Latest phones have WiFi calling and so I no longer have problems. Phew!
I don't see them offering it as a free upgrade in not-spots!
5 low earth orbit satellites (cruising altitude of just over 500km) will provide very intermittent service.
Apparently orbiting the earth twice a day, the photoshoot for this call will have been timed to perfection, both in terms of start time and duration.
Putting that aside, it is a fantastic achievement to have bi-directional comms between standard mobile phones and satellites, given the distance.
I am not sure how much cover this will be able to provide, even with a much enhanced roll-out.
Starlink is apparently planning a launch of direct-to-device mobile services from their 7000 current satellites.
> Starlink is apparently planning a launch of direct-to-device mobile services from their 7000 current satellites.
Not quite. They are launching a service, but it is supported by specific satellites equipped with cell-tower hardware in addition to the "traditional" Starlink kit. These are flying in a lower orbit than normal (about 350km, as I recall?). It doesn't use the existing Starlink constellation, there's no way a standard phone could have a viable Starlink antenna.
GJC
...two out of five mobile phone subscribers are unwilling to pay any extra for direct-to-cell satellite services
I'm surprised it's not higher than that, depending on how exactly the question was worded. How much extra, and what exactly does it do for you? If you rarely go anywhere that doesn't already have cellular coverage, then it would seem to be rather pointless, so what exactly do most of the three out of five subscribers who are willing to pay extra for it think they're getting?
They could write that question in many ways to try to optimize the number of people saying they are willing to pay for it. I'm willing to pay for it. If you increase my bill by 0.1% and give me unlimited access worldwide, I'll pay for it preemptively. Those could probably be pushed a bit and I'd still be willing. However, I expect that it will actually take the form of a substantial increase in the bill just for the right to use the satellites at all, then extra fees for each thing the satellites are used for. If it ends up being as restricted as I predict, then I won't be buying any of it.