Background information
Satellites: the latest smartphone trend is doing the rounds
by Jan Johannsen
Direct to Cell: Starlink launches first mobile communications satellites
4.1.2024
Translation: machine translated
Starlink has launched the first six satellites for its new "Direct to Cell" service. Commercially available smartphones should be able to connect to them.
Satellite connections on smartphones are currently only available for text messages and emergencies. Starlink wants to change this in 2024 and 2025. The first six satellites for Direct to Cell are now orbiting the earth. All you need is an LTE smartphone and a mobile phone provider that cooperates with Starlink.
Start with six satellites and text messages
Starlink recently launched a total of 21 satellites into orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket. Six of them support Direct to Cell. They are intended to help eliminate "dead zones" for mobile communications, as the company announces on X
Source: Jan Johannsen
Starlink plans to launch Direct to Cell in 2024. For the time being, it will only be possible to send text messages this year. For 2025, the company is holding out the prospect of expanding to phone calls and data connections. In addition to smartphones, IoT devices should then also be able to establish connections to the satellites.
Special smartphones, as previously required for satellite connections, will not be necessary. Instead, any LTE device should be able to connect with Direct to Cell. So far, Salt in Switzerland is the only listed cooperation partner of Starlink in Europe. The others come from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile and Peru.
Made famous with emergency calls
Satellite phones have been around for a long time, but it was Apple that first introduced the iPhone 14 and Emergency call SOS opened up satellite connections for smartphones to a large user base - and has already helped numerous people in emergency situations. In the Android sector, Huawei was even slightly quicker than Apple with the announcement and Bullit released its solutions shortly after the two. Qualcomm announced "Snapdragon Satellite" in early 2023, but cancelled it after just eleven months because smartphone manufacturers weren't interested.
Now Starlink seems to be able to win over other companies for the idea with the mobile phone providers. However, it is not yet known how much Direct to Cell will cost.
Cover photo: Starlink
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
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