[hn_throwaway_99]

That's the thing that wasn't clear to me. Do these work with any old 5G phone, or does it need special hardware? E.g. the satellite functionality in the latest iPhones is essentially "emergency only", and it requires a bit of a song and dance to make sure you have visible sky and a direct line of sight to the satellite. The article seems to imply this would be different, and would (eventually) feel just like expanded cell coverage. So curious how this would work.

[cloudwalking]

Allegedly it's LTE and higher bandwidth than the Apple solution, although still relatively low bandwidth. Enough to text and call but not browse.

LTE, text only, with voice and browsing coming supposedly in 2025 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/spacex-launches-...

[summarity]

Being able to call is still a major improvement for small handhelds. My current Iridium device (in reach 2) usually still takes minutes to send messages even under a clear sky (and does so out of order).