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I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how our kids will likely grow up in a world where there is always cell phone service. I didn't think it

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about how our kids will likely grow up in a world where there is always cell phone service. I didn't think it would actually happen this quickly since I thought it would take some time to scale down the starlink receivers to fit into cell phones. Turns out they can just do regular ol' LTE right from the satellites and they're close enough for phones to connect?

freedomben 3y ago
Yes agreed, this is unbelievably faster than I expected. Starlink is absolutely killing it. Although one important caveat is that it will work wherever you can see the sky. So there will still be some dead areas where ground towers and starlink can't reach (though of course that's probably a very small portion, like maybe 5%). But, that seems like a very tractable problem, so I'm sure there will be a solution in short order for those situations. The future is rampaging forward!
GaggiX 3y ago
>our kids will likely grow up in a world where there is always cell phone service. To be honest, I think this is already the case for many Europeans, as there is almost always coverage.
- mh- 3y ago
  here in the States, the only time I've been without >=LTE cell service in the last few months was on a plane (in the air), and in the depths of NYC subways.
  - jabroni_salad 3y ago
    I take my vacations in the northwoods and barely get signal there. Lots of trees and no mountains to park a tower on. The cabin has a landline because you aren't gonna call 911 otherwise. There's also some hilly terrain in northeast iowa where you just can't keep a phone call unless you stop your car. The second you crest the peak you lose line of sight.
  - varenc 3y ago
    Tokyo and Seoul both have massive subways system but unlike NYC they seem to have figured out how to give you service even in the tunnels. (Mercifully though all NYC stations at least have service)
    - GaggiX 3y ago
      Here in Italy I also have full signal in the metro (at least the ones I have been), no idea how.
  - LeafItAlone 3y ago
    I have parts of my road (in the US) that can’t get any signal.
- danhor 3y ago
  At least in germany this isn't the case. The cell coverage on trains is almost a meme by now (even though it's overstated) and and small communities/other attractions in very rural areas (rural for germany, a highway is still usually <50km away) often have very marginal to no cell coverage.
bonton89 3y ago
Yeah, I don't understand how this works. My understanding was that mobile phone signals naturally did not travel very far because of the spectrum they used, but maybe that is greatly extended for low bandwidth will LoS instead of ground obstructions. I wonder what it means for tracking a phone by tower pings.
- cozzyd 3y ago
  Some mobile bands are as low as 600 MHz, which propagates quite well. The reason mobile phone signals don't travel so far are usually ground obstructions (including the horizon) and a relatively weak max power output (23 dBm probably? At least that's what the modems we use in our private LTE network in Greenland do...) The max power output is regulatory, but also for power reasons.
- yencabulator 3y ago
  > My understanding was that mobile phone signals naturally did not travel very far because of the spectrum they used That's more about not going through trees etc. If you have a line of sight to a cell tower, what keeps you from connecting is mostly the radio trying to be polite and choosing not to talk to a cell tower that's more than some max time delay away. I assume for this they'll tweak the settings, and satellites are good for line of sight.

freedomben 3y ago

Yes agreed, this is unbelievably faster than I expected. Starlink is absolutely killing it. Although one important caveat is that it will work wherever you can see the sky. So there will still be some dead areas where ground towers and starlink can't reach (though of course that's probably a very small portion, like maybe 5%). But, that seems like a very tractable problem, so I'm sure there will be a solution in short order for those situations. The future is rampaging forward!

GaggiX 3y ago

>our kids will likely grow up in a world where there is always cell phone service. To be honest, I think this is already the case for many Europeans, as there is almost always coverage.

mh- 3y ago
here in the States, the only time I've been without >=LTE cell service in the last few months was on a plane (in the air), and in the depths of NYC subways.
- jabroni_salad 3y ago
  I take my vacations in the northwoods and barely get signal there. Lots of trees and no mountains to park a tower on. The cabin has a landline because you aren't gonna call 911 otherwise. There's also some hilly terrain in northeast iowa where you just can't keep a phone call unless you stop your car. The second you crest the peak you lose line of sight.
- varenc 3y ago
  Tokyo and Seoul both have massive subways system but unlike NYC they seem to have figured out how to give you service even in the tunnels. (Mercifully though all NYC stations at least have service)
  - GaggiX 3y ago
    Here in Italy I also have full signal in the metro (at least the ones I have been), no idea how.
- LeafItAlone 3y ago
  I have parts of my road (in the US) that can’t get any signal.
danhor 3y ago
At least in germany this isn't the case. The cell coverage on trains is almost a meme by now (even though it's overstated) and and small communities/other attractions in very rural areas (rural for germany, a highway is still usually <50km away) often have very marginal to no cell coverage.

bonton89 3y ago

Yeah, I don't understand how this works. My understanding was that mobile phone signals naturally did not travel very far because of the spectrum they used, but maybe that is greatly extended for low bandwidth will LoS instead of ground obstructions. I wonder what it means for tracking a phone by tower pings.

cozzyd 3y ago
Some mobile bands are as low as 600 MHz, which propagates quite well. The reason mobile phone signals don't travel so far are usually ground obstructions (including the horizon) and a relatively weak max power output (23 dBm probably? At least that's what the modems we use in our private LTE network in Greenland do...) The max power output is regulatory, but also for power reasons.
yencabulator 3y ago
> My understanding was that mobile phone signals naturally did not travel very far because of the spectrum they used That's more about not going through trees etc. If you have a line of sight to a cell tower, what keeps you from connecting is mostly the radio trying to be polite and choosing not to talk to a cell tower that's more than some max time delay away. I assume for this they'll tweak the settings, and satellites are good for line of sight.