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Starlink will provide free global cellular emergency services access (e.g. 911)
- dzhiurgis 2y agoBut you will have to register and post on x.com first /s Seriously tho, how it's going to work on international waters if at all?
- modeless 2y agoThere is no technical issue; Starlink works great in international waters today. As for who will answer your call, that's an interesting question. What do existing satphones do if you call 911 in international waters? As a US citizen I would hope to be connected to the Coast Guard.
- gexla 2y agoSounds about right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_911 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_911 I'm guessing the phone reaching satellite operates similarly to a phone reaching cell networks. It attaches GPS coordinates and then the 911 system does the rest. Just hope if I'm in this situation I'm not actually in the water and not having to fight my screen while it's getting wet. And that I kept my battery charged.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago> no technical issue That’s why I’m asking. Technical issues are easy. What if you make call from north korean eez? Or some contested border? Or even international waters - there is cost attached to it (monitoring, translation, coordination, etc) - by buying PLB you are supporting the operation around it.
- inemesitaffia 2y agoIf you're using a partner network Sim, your provider gets to figure that out, else you get to the nearest partner network
- tuatoru 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sea_rescue_organizations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sea_rescue_organizati...
- modeless 2y ago911 service will soon work in the most remote wilderness or even the middle of the ocean or potentially even at the poles. Likely even on a phone with no service plan at all. This will save countless lives.
- alex1138 2y agoI wonder if there's any plans to pair it with some kind of GPS system, so emergency services can tell exactly where a person is
- modeless 2y agoGPS already works globally thanks to a very similar gift by the US government. Phones automatically send it to 911 when you call. So it's already paired. Starlink will additionally have some idea of a phone's location just due to how the phased arrays work, but not nearly as precise as GPS.
- lillecarl 2y agoIt's quite a stretch to call it a gift from the US government. The original GPS was opened up with horrible accuracy. Every superpower now operates their own positioning constellations free of charge. Thanks US, EU, Russia, India and China
- sickofparadox 2y ago>"The original GPS opened up with horrible accuracy" When GPS launched more than thirty years ago, the accuracy for civilians was within 330 feet, made universally accessible at no additional cost to everyone in the world at a cost of 12 billion dollars. That's a pretty darn good gift if I've ever seen one. Also India does not have a global satellite navigation system, only a regional one.
- modeless 2y agoNot only that, the US government stopped limiting accuracy in 2000. Long before any alternative was available publicly or globally. It's questionable whether other systems would have been made free if GPS hadn't set the example. It was absolutely a gift to the world and it's incredible the backflips people will turn to try to minimize it.
- WantonQuantum 2y agoStarlink provided free internet services to Ukraine when Russia invaded but later on asked for payment. Elon has a history of cancelling orders for Teslas if people criticise him. I feel like Starlink isn't the sort of company the world should rely on for a safety critical service, free or not.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- thedrake 2y agoThe current option is near nothing unless you have a specific plan. Not sure how this would not be better than that.
- 3np 2y agoIt certainly is better to know that you can not actually rely on Starlink for emergency services access in the long-term vs discovering it the moment you actually need it.
- olliej 2y agoYou’re missing the point. Musk has a track record of offering services to remove competitors and then reneging on that once it’s no longer necessary. (Similar to the hyperloop: the whole purpose was to divert funding from public transit programs not produce anything actually useful) Adopting a “free” starlink service that later becomes $$$ only once there’s no alternative is overtly worse than the current state.
- ianburrell 2y agoThe "free" Starlink service is calling 911. It is expected that mobile provider offers 911 service to everyone. Starlink, in partnership with T-Mobile and others, will be offering service with messages and voice but no data. I don't think pricing has been announced, or if going to be add-on or free extra. My guess is that it will be cheap cause it isn't much demand, the emergency is the important part. Also, there are multiple companies working on LTE from satellites. They are at disadvantage cause can't piggyback on lots of low satellite. But might be able to work with fewer, higher satellite. They might be able to partner with other providers.
- lathiat 2y agoApple is paying a pretty penny to GlobalStar for a similar service. Though the iPhone version (which works now in the iPhone 14 and 15, though is also country-dependent) is a very low bandwidth text-based option that can take a minute or more to send and require special pointing at satellites. Starlink is claiming to be able to deliver a limited number of voice streams direct to devices, even for non-emergency.. how the delivery of that goes in actual practice remains to be seen. Apple have basically said its free with any supporting iPhone for "the first 2 years" and then extended it a year so far (https://www.apple.com/au/newsroom/2023/11/apple-extends-emergency-sos-via-satellite-for-an-additional-free-year/ https://www.apple.com/au/newsroom/2023/11/apple-extends-emer...) It totally makes sense as effectively a (fairly expensive) marketing expense to sell iPhones. But I have wondered how much of that limited time freebie is just legalese protection for the event they discontinue the service or something, versus some possible future where they actually tried to charge for it in some way. That seems like a PR nightmare. I'm curious to see how that goes long term. The cost seems to have been in the $200-$500m range, source: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/11/emergency-sos-via-satellite-made-possible-by-450m-apple-investment/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/11/emergency-sos-via-sat...
- ianburrell 2y agoThe Starlink service is quite different that GlobalStar or Iridium. It is actual LTE with unmodified phones. The new Starlink V2 satellites have direct-to-cell functionality with big antennas to pick up mobile phones. They have tested it, but rolling it out depends on getting enough V2 satellites launched. And that may depend on Starship working.
- lathiat 2y agoI did cover that :)
- _yb2s 2y agoPersonal Locator Beacons (PLBs) service is already free and doesn’t require relying on a shady company…. You cannot transmit a message, but the devices are compact, lightweight, and rugged. I always carry one hiking, boating, etc.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoPLB is a dead market considering every iPhone does the same already. Sure it will survive, but will become super niche. Even rugged dumbphone will be cheaper and better.
- _yb2s 2y agoNot at all- an iPhone isn’t even close to replacing a PLB or EPIRB. A PLB is much more rugged, powerful at transmitting, and reliable. It is engineered to transmit for very long periods of time in extreme environments- repeatedly immersed at sea in a storm, in extreme cold at high altitude, etc. It can auto activate with immersion or be activated easily by freezing cold hands that can’t grip. It floats and survives long falls. The iphone has to be held in a certain orientation, with an unobstructed view of the sky for a long time to get a signal out and it uses a lot of battery in the attempt. It also does not have global coverage, or connect to nearly as many satellites as a PLB can. As a person that does mountaineering and offshore sailing there is absolutely no way I’d carry an iPhone in place of a PLB (although I do carry both). The chances of successfully calling for help on an iphone in the conditions you’d need to - like swimming at sea after your vessel sinks are slim. The PLB stays inside my self inflating life jacket always ready.
- tjohns 2y agoCompletely agreed. PLBs are on a whole other level of reliability. Not just physically, the signal itself is significantly more reliable. They have three different ways of being located (digital GPS coordinates, measuring Doppler shift from satellites passing overhead, and radio direction finding from local SAR search planes), which practically guarantees that if you activate a PLB somebody will come. Beyond that, the technology powering PLBs is also required for emergency beacons on aircraft and boats. It's not going away anytime soon. In fact, the technology is being upgraded right now to add return-link capability, plus an entire new satellite constellation (MEOSAR).
- sidcool 2y agoVery useful. On the flip side, more untrained people will venture into wildernesses and cause headache for emergency services. Not starlink fault.
- Suppafly 2y agoUntil they randomly decide not to. I hope no one is truly planning on relying on starlink for critical services.
- justinclift 2y agoWonder if that means they'll be pulled into court cases world wide for triangulation data of specific mobile devices? Because with the capability to provide emergency service globally, it sure sounds like they now have the capability to track individual phones globally.
- ein0p 2y agoThey probably already have that ability. And not only they.
- justinclift 2y agoSure, it sounds like they do. But since they're putting this out there, a lot of people might now think about what that means. :)
- solardev 2y agoI often find the man strange, but this time, really gotta applaud Musk for a decision like this. Kudos. How will it work with regular phones? Do you need a Starlink receiver (wifi calling?) or a certain type of phone (iPhone with the satellite modem?) or are the Starlink sats capable of speaking regular 4G/5G with any phone?