Starlink will come to every smartphone – launch in 2024
Soon it will be possible to use Starlink satellite Internet without buying an expensive transmitting and receiving antenna. SpaceX has published a new webpage to promote its upcoming Starlink Direct to Cell service, which plans to offer cellular connectivity to existing 4G LTE phones via satellite.
An informational website that went live this month states that the service will be launched in 2024 and will initially be limited to text messaging. Voice and data functions will be available in 2025, as well as support for IoT devices.
The company promises that Direct to Cell works with existing LTE phones wherever the sky is visible. There is no need to change the smartphone hardware, firmware, or install special applications.
The space company, owned by Elon Musk, announced plans for the service last year with its American partner T-Mobile. The service is likely to be relatively slow by terrestrial standards, with speeds of two to four megabits per second, but its advantage will be in its breadth of coverage. T-Mobile announced in a press release last year that the service would be available almost everywhere in the continental United States, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, Puerto Rico and territorial waters, even outside of T-Mobile’s network signal.
Satellite connectivity has become a growing trend for smartphones in recent years. Huawei was the first to implement this feature, and a few months later, Apple added a similar emergency SMS feature to the iPhone 14. Huawei, meanwhile, has improved its voice calling technology by offering free satellite calls to Huawei Mate 60 Pro buyers in China.
Meanwhile, a number of other companies are working on implementing satellite communications for ordinary smartphones that do not have special satellite components. AST SpaceMobile, for example, last month made the first 5G satellite call from an unmodified smartphone.
