Cellular providers have long been accused of creating “cellular dead zones,” areas where there is little or no signal strength. With the advent of satellite technology, however, this may soon change. SpaceX and T-Mobile are scheduled to beginTesting a new service in 2018 that will bring satellite connectivity to cell phones. This could mean that cellular dead zones are becoming a thing of the past, giving people access to wider areas with consistent signal strength.
SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to create a new network that will cover most of the United States. The network will use Starlink satellites and T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G spectrum, which is considered to be much more powerful than traditional cell signals. This new network is expected to improve connections in many locations that were previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.
Over the past few years, there has been a large amount of competition in the space-based connectivity market. Players from Amazon to Apple are all vying for a piece of the pie, with each company attempting to provide data to cell phones sooner rather than later. One project that is currently ahead of the curve is Project Kuiper, which announced a partnership with Verizon in 2021. This deal will see Verizon provide access to its network for Project Kuiper’s satellites, allowing data to be transmitted directly to cell phones without having to go through any other intermediary services like satellite networks or ground stations. In this way, Project Kuiper hopes to beat their competitors at their own game by providing an efficient and convenient service straight into people’s hands.
Space has always been seen as a frontier, an place where humans could explore and make incredible discoveries. Now, with the launch of companies such as Lynk and AST SpaceMobile, space is becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives. These companies are revolutionizing the way we communicate by providing two-way SMS capabilities from space. This is an exciting trend that deserves to be further explored and developed.
