SpaceX and T-Mobile Bring Direct Satellite Connectivity to Phones with 'Coverage Above and Beyond'

A few days ago, SpaceX and T-Mobile announced that they will hold a big event. As Musk called the event "something special" and "big news," speculation ran wild on Twitter with guesses about what the big event will be talking about.

Space Explored reports that it's now clear that the announcement lives up to those expectations, as T-Mobile and Starlink introduced "Coverage Above & Beyond" – a direct connection from Starlink to existing phones that will bring phone coverage anywhere in the world, without receiving considering how close you are to cell phone antennas.

SpaceX began the presentation by highlighting the needs for communication since "nearly 20 percent of the US territory is inaccessible to the usual wireless network", Telegrafi reports.

Starlink's flagship terminals bring high-speed Internet to those locations, but these terminals are large, expensive and require a clear line of sight to the entire sky.

With the latest move, T-Mobile aims to eliminate all "dead zones" by integrating existing PCS mid-band spectrum into Starlink V2 satellites, which will be launched no later than next year. This will enable the phones to connect directly to the satellites, without the need for any modifications to the phones.

This will allow T-Mobile users to send MMS, SMS, and eventually voice messages or other data, from anywhere in the world. T-Mobile also announced that they plan to include this service in their standard package at no additional cost.

Speed ​​and connectivity are much more limited than full-sized terminals or standard 4G-5G networks – there will only be two to four megabits of bandwidth per cell zone. While this turns out to be very slow, this partnership will provide "rescue" connections when needed.

Of course, in order to connect to these small antennas on the ground in space, large and powerful antennas are needed. This will be powered by Starlink's second-generation satellites, which will be launched on SpaceX's Starship rocket.

These new antennas for T-Mobile's spectrum will be in addition to Ku- and Ka-band antennas for SpaceX's Starlink terminals, and also for laser links that enable satellites to have high-speed communications. This connection will not be operational for some time, as the earliest connection is expected to take place at the end of 2023. /Telegraph/