[ptsd_dalmatian]

Apple considering move to carrier services? Makes sense from perspective of iPhone sales plateauing and their move to other sources of revenue. I wonder how far are we technologically from communication directly between phones and satellites. I have no idea tbh.

[georgeg23]

SpaceX is working on Direct to Cell Phone from Satellite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink#Satellite_cellular_se...

[starbase]

Starlink v2 satellites can do it today using T-Mobile's 1900MHz spectrum. Not sure if the service is live yet as they have only been launching v2 hardware for a few months.

[cronix]

Starlink recently partnered with KDDI in Japan to do the same thing for the main island and surrounding islands.

https://www.rcrwireless.com/20230831/carriers/kddi-partners-...

[dotnet00]

It isn't clear if the ones being launched have the cellphone communication capability yet.

[ianburrell]

My understanding is that the difference between the v2-Mini that are being launched now on Falcon 9, and the v2 that requires Starship, is the big antenna needed for cell phone.