SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday stated that it achieved a peak obtain pace of 17 Mb/s on an Android telephone with the assistance of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit.
What Occurred: The corporate used a Samsung Android telephone with out modifications.
SpaceX launched six satellites with direct-to-cell functionality earlier this 12 months. Every satellite tv for pc includes a modem functioning as a cell tower in area, aiming to supply customers with international entry to texting, calling, and web searching utilizing commonplace LTE telephones, with out requiring extra {hardware}, software program, or apps. Nevertheless, in contrast to conventional cell towers, these satellites are consistently transferring across the planet.
SpaceX plans to roll out texting providers by the tip of 2024, adopted by voice calls, information, and internet-of-things (IoT) providers in 2025. These providers will depend on a community of tons of of those direct-to-cell enabled satellites.
Solely final week, SpaceX posted on X, previously Twitter, with the assistance of a direct-to-cell satellite tv for pc in area.
Will Starlink Overtake Fastened Wi-fi Networks?: Musk doesn’t anticipate to overhaul fastened wi-fi networks with Starlink direct-to-cell. In a put up reply, he clarified that this method of web entry is efficient solely when there isn’t a present mobile service.
“…as a result of that is the present peak pace per beam and the beams are giant, so this method is simply efficient the place there isn’t a present mobile service,” Musk wrote.
In truth, the service is enabled by way of SpaceX’s partnership with wi-fi community participant TMobile within the U.S. The corporate has additionally entered into partnerships with different gamers across the globe together with Rogers in Canada, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, KDDI in Japan, and Salt in Switzerland.
Photograph by way of Shutterstock
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