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This is actually fascinating. T-Mobile doesn’t need a fiber or even cable buildout to a remote location, just power and the local clearances for a tower, they p

by btown 4y ago

This is actually fascinating. T-Mobile doesn’t need a fiber or even cable buildout to a remote location, just power and the local clearances for a tower, they plop a Starlink antenna on the top and bam. Congestion will be a challenge but it will be way better than the current status quo.

cma 4y ago
That isn't what this is, but they did mention maybe partnering for backhaul in the future (likely with similar tech and frequencies to the home internet, not the frequencies in this announcement).
verdverm 4y ago
This needs no new towers, direct cell / sat comms with current phones
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  Won't that require a bunch of phone hardware for sat comms?
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Not if they use the regular frequencies. It'll require a pretty sensitive receiver though, no point in steering the beam if you don't know where the recipient is.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    The claim is it won't.
  - stetrain 4y ago
    They are using standard 5G midband spectrum from T-mobile
charles_kaw 4y ago
>Congestion will be a challenge but it will be way better than the current status quo. If they QoS common messaging apps and SMS, it'll be a massive win for a lot of people.
refulgentis 4y ago
No, this needs no new towers or hardware
mlindner 4y ago
No I think you're misunderstanding the service. No towers involved, this is beaming direct from space to cell phones.
adgjlsfhk1 4y ago
I don't think congestion will be too bad. If you have too much congestion for starlink, you probably have enough traffic to make a tower make sense.
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y ago
As others have pointed out, this isn't that. But you bring up an interesting possibility for the progression of this partnership.
- dboreham 4y ago
  Once they discover the "bird to handset" thing doesn't actually work.