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Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

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Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#201

Post by WWLink »

modeless wrote: post #61
bonestamp2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know if this has been announced before... When they announced the original deal with T-Mobile, they said that T-Mobile would handle the (spectrum) license for the US and they're looking for a partner in other countries with the appropriate spectrum licensing. US T-Mobile customers would have access to this SpaceX service in any country where there is a partner with the spectrum license. https://www.t-mobile…

I disagree that Apple's capability is similar. The feature only allows texting emergency services, requires holding the phone in a specific orientation to send or receive, is separate from your carrier service (only two years are free with purchase), and is exceedingly slow. SpaceX's service will allow texting and receiving texts from anyone using your carrier number, plans to support third party messaging apps such…

-rolls eyes-

damnit that gave me a headache. they almost fell out of my head.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#202

Post by [deleted] »

Blahah wrote: post #90
fullspectrumdev wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just described a couple months of my life - my phone and card went missing, a lot of services were tied to a Revolut account on the phone - and my 2FA/Password Manager/Card became totally inaccessible so I lost access entirely to huge chunks of my life (: It’s amazing how fragile stuff is. Now I’m super autistic about paper backups of everything, having ways back in, etc

> Now I’m super autistic about paper backups of everything, having ways back in, etc I don't think autistic means what you think it means

[deleted]

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#203

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #167
modeless wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that Apple's capability is similar. The feature only allows texting emergency services, requires holding the phone in a specific orientation to send or receive, is separate from your carrier service (only two years are free with purchase), and is exceedingly slow. SpaceX's service will allow texting and receiving texts from anyone using your carrier number, plans to support third party messaging apps such…

There’s more nuance to the pricing situation that I think is worth mentioning. Whilst Apple said that they’d charge for this, they IIRC never announced pricing, and offered the first year free. That first year has since lapsed and they’ve committed to keeping it free for another year. Given the negative PR that would come of, say, a death that could’ve been prevented had someone subscribed to Uncle Tim’s Apple Emerge…

> the negative PR that would come of, say, a death that could’ve been prevented had someone subscribed

It seems this could easily be avoided by selling 1 year subscriptions, available retroactively for a steep fee.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#204

Post by ChatGTP »

rattt wrote: post #197
ChatGTP wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely curious, how would the iPhone have saved them ?

Presumably referring to iPhone 14+ satelite emergency texting https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426

I assume so, just wondering what would've happened if they had the phone, how far were they from the rescue service, what was the circumstances etc.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#205

Post by NoZebra120vClip »

This is great for Starlink and Americans, really great.

But I believe that we should consider the corollary of this achievement: any threat actor with the ability to launch satellites into this orbit will be able to act as a cell tower, anywhere in the world at any time.

Previously, cell towers were limited by geography and topology. We'd travel to/through a neighborhood and there would be a limited number of towers available for our traffic, and our trust in them was based on their ability to physically set up there and connect to one or more carrier networks.

Now if any old space rock can provide service, what does this mean for trustworthiness of the tower stations? Will anybody be able to carry our traffic without us really knowing who is doing it?

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#206

Post by FredPret »

someguydave wrote: post #200
FredPret wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love the idea of telegram-style communication with the extremely chatty ChatGPT. "ChatGPT, get me instructions for building an emergency igloo." "Igloos are used to shelter from extreme cold stop Building an igloo is a vital survival skill stop ..." "Just get to the point!" "My apologies for the confusion stop Here are the fourteen steps to building an igloo..." In all honesty, I love ChatGPT, but you'd have to penal…

A many decent open source LLM mostly fit in cell-phone sized hardware, eliminating the need for remote chatGPT

For the longest time I thought Ray Kurzweil was nuts. Guess he was merely a little quick with his predictions!

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#207

Post by FredPret »

NavinF wrote: post #92
FredPret wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love the idea of telegram-style communication with the extremely chatty ChatGPT. "ChatGPT, get me instructions for building an emergency igloo." "Igloos are used to shelter from extreme cold stop Building an igloo is a vital survival skill stop ..." "Just get to the point!" "My apologies for the confusion stop Here are the fourteen steps to building an igloo..." In all honesty, I love ChatGPT, but you'd have to penal…

Yeah the default prompt is intended for people that are a bit slow. You have to aggressively tune the custom prompt to get reasonable results. Here's a decent starting point: Treat me as an expert in all subject matters. No moral lectures - discuss safety only when it's crucial and non-obvious. If your content policy is an issue, provide the closest acceptable response and explain the issue. No need to disclose you'r…

This is absolutely brilliant. I'm getting very snappy answers now.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#208

Post by davidjade »

lxgr wrote: post #126
davidjade wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the things you learn in taking a SOLAS class (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) is that you will most likely not talk with SAR responders even if you have a sat phone. An EPIRB is the primary means of sending a distress call for initiating a SAR response. It’s just the way the rescue system is set up internationally.

That's really surprising. The GMDSS part of SOLAS requires having at least Inmarsat C at high seas (which is text-only but still bidirectional) or Iridium (for high latitudes, with HF DSC as a backup), as far as I know. That's all on top of EPIRBs. Wouldn't it make sense to use the bidirectional capabilities of these to request specific help, if only after getting out the initial signal through an EPIRB? I can't imag…

The class I took was for recreational/non-commercial sailing so some of the GMDSS requirements do not apply to those vessels.

I’ve done re-certification every 5 years or so. At every class a SAR person has told us to not expect them to make contact over a sat phone. Now who they will contact first are your EPIRB contacts and ask for your float plan, vessel description, etc.

Maybe it is because they don’t want people to have just a sat phone or InReach and believe they’re good to go.

People seem to regularly be unable to tell SAR where they are even if they have a GPS onboard. I’ve witnessed this just listening to VHF request for assistance in inland waters many times in the Pacific Northwest.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#209

Post by dzhiurgis »

notatoad wrote: post #150
dzhiurgis wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slight downside, but in many places you can’t text 911 or local equivalent

not so much a downside or an upside, just a totally different thing.

Could be if you are loosing consciousness and none of your friends respond to your dramatic texts.

I really doubt they’ll release this without ability to call 911.

Re: Starlink Successfully Tests Space Direct to Cell Mobile Service

#210

Post by herewulf »

forgot-im-old wrote: post #190
numpad0 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LTE user count limits per cell is like 500 to 1.5k, and 133km^2 is on par with Liechtenstein(160km^2, 40k population), so like, 7Mbps shared among top 1 - 3.75% of Liechtensteinians? That sounds prestigious...

Anywhere with Liechtenstein's population density would already have cell service, so this wouldn't get used there anyway. This is for the 0.1-0.2% of the US population that doesn't have cell service at all (still prestigious in their own way, but also likely low income).

There are lots of places in the US and Canada (to name a few) where people regularly go for outdoor recreation, or what have you, and there's no cell service anywhere near. This is very applicable to that case, not just where people actually live.
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