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SpaceX and T-Mobile are starting a trial in late-2023 to use unmodified handsets for text (and later, voice and data) with the Starlink V2 network to remove ce
by shasheene 4y ago
SpaceX and T-Mobile are starting a trial in late-2023
to use unmodified handsets for text (and later, voice and data) with the Starlink V2 network to remove cell coverage dead-zones. [1] [2]
It's achieved by "dedicating a slice of T-Mobile's Mid-Band PCS [1.9 GHz] spectrum, to be integrated into Starlink satellites, launched next year", with each Starlink V2 satellite hosting two 5-6 meter long cell-spectrum antennas, in addition to the existing Ka- and Ku-band antennas.
They're aiming for the US with the trial, and growing to global coverage by entering into reciprocal roaming agreements with the international carriers who hold licences to the relevant mid-band spectrum.
Elon Musk says "this won't have the kind of bandwidth that a Starlink terminal would have, but it will enable texting. It will enable images. And if there aren't too many people in the in the cell-zone, you could even potentially have a little bit of video."
Musk claims 2 to 4 megabits per cell-zone, 1000-2000 simultaneous voice calls per cell-zone, with the cell-zone of course being much larger than a terrestrial cell-tower.
[1] https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/t-mobile-takes-coverage-above-and-beyond-with-spacex https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/t-mobile-takes-cove...
[2] https://youtu.be/F8zS2rU-URo?t=325 https://youtu.be/F8zS2rU-URo?t=325
- postingawayonhn 4y agoOdd that it's not mentioned in the article as this is probably the most ambitious proposal in this area.
- hughes 4y agoIt is mentioned in the article. > Splashy announcements of satellite-cellular connectivity from Apple, Starlink, and T-Mobile in the third quarter of 2022 promoted the idea of anywhere, any-kind connectivity.
- kortilla 4y agoBut the one from Apple is a joke compared to general sms and mms coverage. Or is apple’s system capable of much more and the first beta is just “SOS”?
- mschuster91 4y agoApple's stuff is probably orders of magnitude more reliable, the system they use has been battle-tested for decades. Both Starlink's sat-cells and Apple's Globalstar link will be a real benefit for people who get stuck in a bad situation unprepared, but if I were a serious rock climber or similar, I'd still prefer a full-scale Globalstar, Iridium terminal or EPIRB device, then an iPhone with Globalstar, and only then Starlink's offer.
- dzhiurgis 4y agoI think they’ll def come up with a paid plan for extra features. Same way T-Mobile only basic features are going to be free. Same way Starlink residential is orders of magnitude cheaper than marine edition.
- denlekke 4y agoTMobile/SpaceX proposed service does sound better than the one Apple currently provides. Apple's works right now though and T/S's doesn't which is a notable difference. I also haven't read anything about the T/S service that says they will exclude iPhones. As an iPhone user, I would love to have access to both services! It's unlikely I would switch to a different phone manufacturer to get access to this service if it isn't available to iphones, but i might switch to TMobile from my current mvno to get it on iphone.
- aristophenes 4y agoIt’s actually significantly less capable than the network being attempted by ASTS.
- patentatt 4y agoDoes anyone know what codec they're using at 2kbps per voice call?
- woodruffw 4y agoAMR_SID claims to be 1.8kbps[1], but I can't imagine it sounds very good. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_code...
- killjoywashere 4y agoI'll just leave this here for y'all https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotelephony_procedure#Procedure_words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotelephony_procedure#Proce...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- thombat 4y agoAnd the streaming video will be of an empty chessboard in a room with unchanging lighting.
- rini17 4y agoOr AI video generator text prompts.
- RyanHamilton 4y agoYou joke but nvidia is looking at AI compression: https://www.fiercevideo.com/tech/nvidia-swaps-codecs-for-ai-to-improve-video-call-compression https://www.fiercevideo.com/tech/nvidia-swaps-codecs-for-ai-... Which would model the person and "generate" video.
- 4y ago
- kylec 4y ago[flagged]
- mannanj 4y agoIs there someone you trust more with your data, if so, please share.
- denlekke 4y agoGlobalstar ... edit to add more detail: given Musk's history of unilaterally cancelling some individual's tesla orders, publishing car telemetry to dispute autopilot crash news stories, deciding when, how, and where Ukraine can use Starlink, and now plenty more examples of banning / censoring / downranking people as he sees fit on twitter, I'd prefer not to use a service he provides if i can get comparable capabilities somewhere else
- onethought 4y agoCan you provide details of the order cancellation? That’s a new one. Wasn’t the car telemetry only published because it went to court? Why are you upset with Musk when someone tries to defraud Tesla and they prove them wrong with data? No one else’s telemetry has been published. Meanwhile Uber have “god-mode” and can track every driver globally in realtime… and it was abused to stalk people. SpaceX donated starlinks to Ukraine, and they did it ridiculously fast… Meanwhile Globalstar did nothing. And you’re upset with SpaceX for having some conditions? What were they that were so egregious? What are the examples of banning? That are vastly different from pre-musk twitter. Do you mean the part where he banned people for releasing his real-time location? (After warning them, explaining it would get them suspended, and then doing it… and then reinstating them). This super-villain narrative of Musk is hilariously comical. Where is it coming from? - The other space companies are way worse than SpaceX and no one said anything - The other car companies are way worse than Tesla and no one said anything - Do we all remember Cambridge Analytica? But Musk cost cutting, and exposing internal workings of twitter is terrible for man kind. It honestly feels like some kind of explicit narrative in a “Manufacturing Consent” kind of way. Why has the world turned on Musk?
- quest88 4y ago[flagged]
- lyu07282 4y ago[flagged]
- rlt 4y agoThis is such a tired take. Strong leaders are able to marshal engineers to build things like the iPhone, electric cars, reusable rockets. Both Steve Jobs and Elon Musk excelled at this, and just because they're not doing the low level engineering work doesn't mean they don't get any credit. And by all accounts Steve Jobs was extremely involved in the UX design of the original iPhone, and Elon Musk is often involved in engineering decisions at his companies. That's not to say they both don't have flaws, but it's intellectually dishonest to deny their accomplishments because you don't like them.
- thrashh 4y agoThe most upvoted posts are either “oh this person is a god” or “this person just spouts lies” It’s like commenting shouldn’t even be enabled
- EarthLaunch 4y agoIt's much better that commenting is open, so that people thinking these things can express themselves, and be exposed to different viewpoints, resulting in more thinking and shared knowledge. Without that, an opinion can fester in someone's mind, becoming worse since there's no way to release it and no visible counterarguments. In my younger Slashdot days, I would read these polarized discussions, and it taught me about many perspectives on even the simplest thing.
- rofo1 4y ago> In my younger Slashdot days, I would read these polarized discussions, and it taught me about many perspectives on even the simplest thing. I know precisely what you mean, but I'd argue that you were in a position to consider multiple perspectives in the first place. A lot of people are not. They have determined their position ahead of time, and regardless of new information, they will not change it.
- chinathrow 4y agoDoes that imply that our handsets can already be tracked from space, e.g. from the NRO?
- sandworm101 4y agoDoes anyone think that isnt already possible? Have you seen the size of recent NRO satellites?
- LeifCarrotson 4y agoI have not, do you have a link? I'm passingly familiar with the old Keyhole/Hubble optical satellites, but I didn't think we launched any of those recently after the Shuttle shut down. The more interesting tech is probably sigint-targeted radio analysis, where antenna and LNA design is more important than physical aperture, I wouldn't be able to tell anything about those with a physical dimension. What would the new satellites launch on? Looking up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NRO_launches doesn't give much detail, other than that they launched on Falcon 9 and Delta IV rockets.
- sandworm101 4y agoNRO Orion sats are probably the largest antennas ever in space (100m). "These satellites at geostationary orbits collect radio emissions (SIGINT) and act as replacements for the older constellation of Magnum satellites. The satellites have estimated mass close to 5,200 kg and very large (estimated 100 m diameter) radio reflecting dishes." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(satellite) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(satellite)
- quest88 4y agoMy previous comment was flagged so let me add some more context around "Musk claims". Remember Musks claims of FSD being X months away (for years), and SpaceX will be cheaper by orders of magnitude, and Twitter will be open to all free speech, and the cyber truck, and new roadster, etc etc? The point is, Musk has shown himself as unreliable and we can hardly trust his claims.