Today, SpaceX and T-Mobile announced a huge partnership that they would be partnering to release 'Coverage Above & Beyond,' an add-on included with higher-end subscriptions that allows mobile phones to receive data in regions outside normal cell phone range. This service will be available in 2023 to most smartphones already existing on the market.
Elon Musk followed up with a tweet stating that it will be best used for texting and calling, but not for high bandwidth data usage as it provides 2-4 Mbps of data per service zone. According to Elon, this technology will "eliminate dead zones worldwide" for mobile phones.
TMC user @Cosmacelf believes that this satellite-to-cellphone technology might have come from SpaceX's acquisition of Swarm, a low cost, global satellite connectivity company that allows cell phones to communicate with one another.
ASTS, another satellite data service that is supposed to directly compete with T-Mobile's 'Coverage Above & Beyond' service is also about to launch their first satellite, of which they are using SpaceX to launch.
Credit: T-Mobile
Elon announced on Twitter that this worldwide coverage feature will be coming to Tesla vehicles with the Premium Connectivity subscription! In my opinion, this is a fantastic way to incorporate SpaceX technology into Tesla vehicles. It is currently unknown whether the Premium Connectivity subscription will increase in price as a result.
Elon Musk followed up with a tweet stating that it will be best used for texting and calling, but not for high bandwidth data usage as it provides 2-4 Mbps of data per service zone. According to Elon, this technology will "eliminate dead zones worldwide" for mobile phones.
TMC user @Cosmacelf believes that this satellite-to-cellphone technology might have come from SpaceX's acquisition of Swarm, a low cost, global satellite connectivity company that allows cell phones to communicate with one another.
"T-Mobile will have to work with messaging app providers to ensure compatibility", says Cosmacelf. "So, the regular phone SMS text feature should work out of the box, but iMessaging and WhatsApp and even RCS will need to be tweaked somewhat to ensure bandwidth compatibility."This direct to cell phone technology might have come from SpaceX's acquisition of Swarm. They may yet offer an IoT service, but I am guessing the technology to allow direct to cell phone is similar to what Swarm had.
ASTS, another satellite data service that is supposed to directly compete with T-Mobile's 'Coverage Above & Beyond' service is also about to launch their first satellite, of which they are using SpaceX to launch.
In theory, the ASTS service will be higher bandwidth, more capable, and thus probably more expensive. AT&T Mobile has signed an LOI with ASTS. Interesting times!
Credit: T-Mobile
Elon announced on Twitter that this worldwide coverage feature will be coming to Tesla vehicles with the Premium Connectivity subscription! In my opinion, this is a fantastic way to incorporate SpaceX technology into Tesla vehicles. It is currently unknown whether the Premium Connectivity subscription will increase in price as a result.