Due to the absence of a significant cellular tower network in rural and low-population areas in the USA, mobile connectivity is a challenge when traveling off the beaten track, but, eventually, we will look back on the good old days when you could pack the rig and leave the world, and the internet, behind while simultaneously enjoying access to potentially life-saving connectivity. Traditional terrestrial cellular technology may work well in urban and developed areas, but there are huge swaths of the country (and the planet) which are cell signal “dead zones.”
Your expensive satellite phone or emergency messenger may well soon become obsolete in the USA and eventually beyond. Recently SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk and T-Mobile C.E.O. and President Mike Sievert announced “Coverage Above and Beyond,” a plan with the goal of spreading cell phone connectivity to every nook and cranny of the USA. Total coverage will be achieved by leveraging Starlink, SpaceX’s constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, and T-Mobile’s wireless network.
“The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone,”
said Elon Musk, extending an invitation to global carriers to partner with the consortium.
SpaceX and T-Mobile will create a new network, broadcast from Starlink’s satellites using T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum nationwide. This “true” satellite-to-cellular service promises nearly complete coverage almost anywhere a customer can see the sky.
“We’ve always thought differently about what it means to keep customers connected, and that’s why we’re working with the best to deliver coverage above and beyond anything customers have ever seen before. More than just a groundbreaking alliance, this represents two industry-shaking innovators challenging the old ways of doing things to create something entirely new that will further connect customers…”
said Mike Sievert, C.E.O. of T-Mobile.
(In June 2022, T-Mobile launched Coverage Beyond, which pushed the boundaries of their coverage map to 30,000 feet and abroad, with free high-speed data in 210+ countries and destinations and free in-flight connectivity and streaming on the biggest U.S. airlines).
So, how much will this brave new world cost us, the weary consumer? Reports suggest that you should not need to upgrade your tech as the service aims to work with the phone in your pocket. Most smartphones on T-Mobile’s network are said to be compatible with the new service using the device’s existing radio. According to Mike Sievert, the feature will eventually be offered free on some of the company’s “most popular” wireless plans. Of course, you will need to be a T-Mobile user to benefit, at least until the competition can offer an alternative network with a similar reach (in late 2021, Verizon announced a partnership with Amazon’s Project Kuiper to explore ways to improve its own coverage map via 3,236 planned low earth orbit satellites).
Initially, coverage will be limited to a meager 2 to 4 megabits per cell zone, and the current Starlink satellite cell size is about 15 miles in diameter. All mobile devices will share this bandwidth within the cell zone, good news if you are alone with a twisted ankle and a rattler bite in the middle of the desert, and bad news if you are trying to deal with a distant crisis in a popular, remote campsite teeming with influencers and teenagers.
According to the slick press release, T-Mobile is planning to use this technology to
“give customers text coverage practically everywhere in the continental US, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, Puerto Rico, and territorial waters, even outside the signal of T-Mobile’s network starting with a beta in select areas by the end of next year after SpaceX’s planned satellite launches. Text messaging, including SMS, MMS, and participating messaging apps, will empower customers to stay connected and share experiences nearly everywhere. Afterwards, the companies plan to pursue the addition of voice and data coverage”.
It is unclear exactly how long we will need to wait before the entire internet will be available everywhere, beta testing will start “as soon as late next year,” according to Mike Sievert, and that will be limited to sending text (SMS) and multimedia messages (M.M.S.).
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