[Starlink] SpaceX/Starlink says it's ready for a fall satellite-to-cell service with T-Mobile

[Frantisek Borsik]

The whole article is worth reading, but tl;dr;

"The promise of D2D is alluring – that we can be connected wherever we are
– no more not-spots and the certainty of always being able to contact
others. But the reality is some way from this. The only existing D2D
service is Apple’s iPhone emergency communications which offers messaging
to the emergency services and vehicle assistance in 16 countries. This does
not appear to be a service Apple thinks it can charge for at present.

Those offerings that have the greatest potential for ubiquity are within
the MSS spectrum. But here bandwidths are too constrained to deliver full
service capabilities. Other MSS operators such as Iridium have struggled to
put together a commercial D2D proposition (although their core business
remains strong).

The other approach of using MS spectrum has strong backers in the form of
SpaceX and T-Mobile as well as multiple promising start-ups. But it is
beset with challenges of avoiding interference with existing terrestrial
use, overcoming restrictions in border areas, ensuring compliance with
hundreds of regulators, of which only one has a defined policy towards D2D
at present, doing deals with hundreds of operators and managing other
regulatory hurdles. Only US-based coverage looks likely any time soon and
the true extent of that remains unclear.

With limited offers, the consumer interest will be less. Quite how much
less is very unclear, but it is clear that the business case will be
challenging. Most consumers appear to have limited interest in paying more
per month for better coverage.

In summary, D2D’s alluring promise of ubiquitous fully-featured global
connectivity is not likely to be realised any time soon, if ever, but a
reduced service level in a few countries may be sufficient to justify
launching suitable satellites."


All the best,

Frank

Frantisek (Frank) Borsik



https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantisekborsik

Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp: +421919416714

iMessage, mobile: +420775230885

Skype: casioa5302ca

frantisek.borsik at gmail.com


On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 1:43 PM Alexandre Petrescu via Starlink <
starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:

> does it say whether it is text only, data only, or everything including
> voice?
> Le 04/06/2024 à 13:20, Frantisek Borsik via Starlink a écrit :
>
> Some additional reading from William Webb:
>
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/satellite-direct-device-workable-william-webb-sonke/?trackingId=Sjha4DY8SqONFA9g%2Bb5b%2Bw%3D%3D
>
> All the best,
>
> Frank
>
> Frantisek (Frank) Borsik
>
>
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantisekborsik
>
> Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp: +421919416714
>
> iMessage, mobile: +420775230885
>
> Skype: casioa5302ca
>
> frantisek.borsik at gmail.com
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 2:54 AM David Lang <david at lang.hm> wrote:
>
>> Eugene Y Chang wrote:
>>
>> >> On Jun 3, 2024, at 12:41 PM, David Lang <david at lang.hm> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Eugene Y Chang wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I expect low data rate because the distance will fall back to a lower
>> coding rate.
>> >>
>> >> I think it's going to be more a matter of very large cells, so many
>> people sharing the available bandwidth
>> >>
>> >>> I observe a difference in my phone’s batter life between urban and
>> rural usage. I expect the battery life to be significantly reduced with
>> Starlink.
>> >>> And yes… if the phone isn’t communicating then the battery life isn’t
>> drawn down much…
>> >>
>> >> In my experience, a phone that's trying to find a tower uses more
>> power than one that has a tower, but is otherwise idle
>> >
>> > When the phone is searching for a tower, it is transmitting at maximum
>> power.
>> > Then, the phone adjusts the transmit power according to the distance to
>> the tower,
>> > In an urban environment, the distance to the tower is usually less
>> (i.e. smaller cells due to subscriber density).
>> > In a rural environment, there is more distance to the tower, and the
>> phone is transmitting at higher power (i.e., towers are farther apart for
>> larger cells due to fewer subscribers per tower, up to the max tower
>> separation.)
>> > When you are mobile, the power is proportionate to the mean distance to
>> the tower during your operations.
>>
>> and for direct-to-satellite, it's going to be a max power situation,
>> similar to
>> rural.
>>
>> But when a phone is not connected, how frequent are it's searches for
>> towers
>> (especially if it has multiple bands to check) compared to the
>> 'keepalive' pings
>> when it is connected? if it's doing more transmissions for it's search
>> and
>> attempts to connect than it does while connected and just confirming the
>> connection, that could eat more power.
>>
>> David Lang
>
>
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