Home › News ›

T-Mobile Teams with SpaceX for Satellite Coverage Using Existing Phones

Aug 25, 2022, 7:40 PM by Rich Brome @richbrome
updated Aug 26, 2022, 11:52 AM

T-Mobile and SpaceX today announced a partnership to provide 100% coverage across the US and "vast" parts of oceans using SpaceX's next generation of Starlink satellites, which will be able to connect directly to existing cell phones. The service will use a dedicated "small slice" of the PCS band (the G block of band 25, which is 1910–1915 MHz for uplink and 1990–1995 MHz for downlink). The initial service will be limited to text messaging, MMS, and select third-party messaging apps. A beta version of the service is expected to be available late next year. Eventually, T-Mobile hopes to expand the service to general data as well as voice. The technology is enabled by new, much larger phased-array antennas that will be included on upcoming Starlink 2.0 satellites that could start launching by the end of this year. Current SpaceX lab tests show the service able to offer "2–4 Mbit per cell zone." T-Mobile plans to offer the service for free on its "most popular" plans, and for a small fee on lower plans. T-Mobile expressed interest in offering "reciprocal" roaming with other carriers, and SpaceX expressed interest in offering the service to other carriers around the world. AST SpaceMobile is working to launch its own new satellites that will provide a similar service. SpaceX is also launching AST's satellites.

Related

iPhone 14 Plus Offers a Big Screen For Less

Sep 7, 2022
Apple has revealed the iPhone 14 series, with new features, improved specs, and new size options. In place of a Mini option, the iPhone 14 will come in the same 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen size options as the Pro models.

Qualcomm Taps Iridium for Satellite Connectivity

Jan 5, 2023
Qualcomm has revealed Snapdragon Satellite , the company's solution for connecting Android phones directly to satellites for truly global coverage. The feature uses the Iridium network, a satellite constellation that has has been in operation for 25 years.

Microsoft Teams Can Block 911 Calls on Android

Dec 8, 2021
Google has confirmed that Android phone users with the Microsoft Teams app installed may not be able to call 911 in an emergency in certain situations. The issue occurs only when someone has the Teams app installed but is not signed in.

Qualcomm Announces New Platforms for 5G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth

Feb 28, 2022
Qualcomm today announced the X70 5G modem, S5 and S3 Sound Platforms for Bluetooth audio products, and FastConnect 7800 subsystem with Wi-Fi 7. The highlight of the X70 is a new set of AI processing technologies to improve modem performance.

First Phones With Dish's Band 70 Approved by FCC

Mar 3, 2022
The FCC this week approved two new Motorola phones that support 5G NR in band 70, the unique band definition created specifically to combine the unique collection of frequency bands that Dish Network has won in FCC auctions over the past decade. These are the first phones approved by the FCC that support band 70.

more news about:

Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

rwalford79

Aug 28, 2022, 11:21 PM

Doubtful

I doubt this will ever really come to fruition. Telstra Australia did something like this with either Iridium or Thuraya a decade ago as well. Use your regular cellphone in desolate places if there was a satellite signal (but it was not a satellite phone). It failed miserably. They moved to all satellite network for those areas instead of just expanding coverage. The latency on satellite is way too great to make it of real use outside a few texts and some calls - but with only 5Mhz of PCS spectrum being used there is absolutely no way to offer data to the masses with that. There is not going to be some automatic satellite connectivity and using that network over the land based T-Mobile network unless you are completely out of the coverage ar...
(continues)

gloopey1

I guess we shall see. I'm betting that SpaceX has deeper pockets abd greater capabilities to accomplish this than some network that failed a decade ago in Australia.

gloopey1

I guess we shall see. I'm betting that SpaceX has deeper pockets and greater capabilities to accomplish this than some network that failed a decade ago in Australia.

gloopey1

Aug 25, 2022, 7:59 PM

Game Changer

If this works as advertised, this will be a game changer. No more being stuck in the middle of nowhere without a way to communicate or request help.

Page 1 of 1

T-Mobile Teams with SpaceX for Satellite Coverage Using Existing Phones

Comments

Review: Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact