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Starlink direct to T-Mobile phone
- Thread starter Cosmacelf
- Start date
Yeah Dishy as a whole* and parabolic antennas are more directional than a whip, I was commenting on the shift from the old multimeter parabolics to modern higher frequency DirectTV style to flat Dishys that stream vs get broadcast.
*Dishy's phased array is made of omnidirectional (ok, hemispherical) elements...
Sure. It's not considered an omnidirentional antenna however... it uses amplitude summing to "steer" it, rather than physically moving the dish.
However the context of this discussion is the difference between that and an omnidirentional antenna as cell phone would have in a terrestrial setting.
Yah, I know, thus 'as a whole' vs 'elements' (with phase shifted signals).
More gain, more better.
Projecting out 10 years…your phone will work wherever you have a clear view of the sky. Wow.
I prefer them to AT&T and Verizon as a business, but hard to beat Verizon for coverage where I travel. Except for the virtual mobile companies like xFinity Mobile that use everyone’s towers.
Eventually we might have Tesla premium connectivity work everywhere through similar arrangements. That would be very useful for the increasing number of Tesla customers whose travel patterns present communication limitations today. Conventional roaming solves many issues already, this solves the problem when traveling in remote areas of places such as US, Canada, Australia, not to mention numerous areas of every continent that presently are communications deserts.
Starlink alone solves many issues, but the cellular/Starlink combination is a significant advance. As a longtime T-Mobile customer, primarily because fo near-worldwide service, this has been on my radar since last year when it was announced.
Once TSLA/Starlink integration directly becomes practical Premium Connectivity and seamless software updates will be able to return to what they were back when cellular upgrades were a standard feature. FWIW, my Volvo has that now and I feel nostalgic for the 'old days' when Tesla did it. OTOH, as a shareholder it might be preferable to have that on a subscription basis. The revenues would become relevant in a short time.
ARS article on it... a couple of tidbits... expected data speeds (2-4mbps) and comparison to other constellations providing phone service....
SpaceX details Starlink-for-phones plan, launching in 2024
SpaceX details Starlink-for-phones plan, launching in 2024
More than enough. Voice takes about 20-40 Kbps (I don't know exactly what the latest compression codecs are doing these days).
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
think of voice as practically free (because it uses so little data) and then add video to get this table from Youtube support.
So 2 Mbps is enough for making a voice call while watching a 480p video or browsing web pages, and if it really is bouncing between 2 and 4 Mbps you might get some choppy to good 720p + a phone call or be able to browse more smoothly.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2024
SPACEX SENDS FIRST TEXT MESSAGES VIA ITS NEWLY LAUNCHED DIRECT TO CELL SATELLITES
On Monday, January 8, the Starlink team successfully sent and received our first text messages using T-Mobile network spectrum through one of our new Direct to Cell satellites launched six days prior. Connecting cell phones to satellites has several major challenges to overcome. For example, in terrestrial networks cell towers are stationary, but in a satellite network they move at tens of thousands of miles per hour relative to users on Earth. This requires seamless handoffs between satellites and accommodations for factors like Doppler shift and timing delays that challenge phone to space communications. Cell phones are also incredibly difficult to connect to satellites hundreds of kilometers away given a mobile phone’s low antenna gain and transmit power. Starlink satellites with the Direct to Cell payload are equipped with innovative new custom silicon, phased array antennas, and advanced software algorithms that overcome these challenges and provide standard LTE service to cell phones on the ground. As the global leader in rocket and satellite launch and manufacturing, SpaceX is uniquely positioned to rapidly scale our Direct to Cell network and will rapidly launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites to enable text service in 2024 and voice, data, and Internet of Things (IoT) services in 2025.
and
Texts between two phones sent through our Direct to Cell satellites in space:
SPACEX SENDS FIRST TEXT MESSAGES VIA ITS NEWLY LAUNCHED DIRECT TO CELL SATELLITES
On Monday, January 8, the Starlink team successfully sent and received our first text messages using T-Mobile network spectrum through one of our new Direct to Cell satellites launched six days prior. Connecting cell phones to satellites has several major challenges to overcome. For example, in terrestrial networks cell towers are stationary, but in a satellite network they move at tens of thousands of miles per hour relative to users on Earth. This requires seamless handoffs between satellites and accommodations for factors like Doppler shift and timing delays that challenge phone to space communications. Cell phones are also incredibly difficult to connect to satellites hundreds of kilometers away given a mobile phone’s low antenna gain and transmit power. Starlink satellites with the Direct to Cell payload are equipped with innovative new custom silicon, phased array antennas, and advanced software algorithms that overcome these challenges and provide standard LTE service to cell phones on the ground. As the global leader in rocket and satellite launch and manufacturing, SpaceX is uniquely positioned to rapidly scale our Direct to Cell network and will rapidly launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites to enable text service in 2024 and voice, data, and Internet of Things (IoT) services in 2025.
and
Texts between two phones sent through our Direct to Cell satellites in space:
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
Watts_Up
Well-Known Member
Saw that article this morning as well... some thoughts:
- They went from launch to sats being operational in 8 days. That seems fast, although admittedly I don't track such things, and perhaps the other long commissioning times have been due to needing to raise to a higher orbit...
- LOL at the messages sent... right up there with test launches of blocks of cheese and cars to space
- The press release talks about the extreme difficulty in getting the sat to work with an unmodified cell phone with 0.2W max(!), and custom silicon to help with stuff like doppler shift at sat speeds... very cool
- Will be interesting to see a voice service test, and if these initial D2D pilot birds will be able to do that, or it will take an upgraded version
- They went from launch to sats being operational in 8 days. That seems fast, although admittedly I don't track such things, and perhaps the other long commissioning times have been due to needing to raise to a higher orbit...
- LOL at the messages sent... right up there with test launches of blocks of cheese and cars to space
- The press release talks about the extreme difficulty in getting the sat to work with an unmodified cell phone with 0.2W max(!), and custom silicon to help with stuff like doppler shift at sat speeds... very cool
- Will be interesting to see a voice service test, and if these initial D2D pilot birds will be able to do that, or it will take an upgraded version
The had applied for FCC approval for early activation.
https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=337665&x=.
That was a request for "temp authority" to test the birds, right? But, in a quick perusal, nothing in there about the time between launch and being oprational to perform the test, which is what I was talking about.
I'm not sure the FCC even regulates the time between achieving orbit and beginning operations. I suspect that's more a function of, orbital positioning, system checks, deploying solar arrays, deploying antennas, etc...
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