Apple’s solution works today. Consumers are using it.
This is mentioned in the article.
If we’re looking for existing technology, current actually working GPS phones would be a better showcase of what’s possible.
If you look at apple’s latest feature, even them, with specific hardware probably, requires minutes of open-sky pointing directly at the closest satellite, to transmit mere bytes of data.
That tells me that if your phone is just hanging in your pocket, indoors, with a 5G nearby, it’s not going to reach the satellite at in any shape or form.
Anyway let's wait and see - I'm pretty sure T-Mobile wouldn't have signed on for something that is just a pipedream
Las Vegas and a few other cities did, from the same salesman: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel...
I'm not saying that it's impossible, I'm just pointing out your smugness at the fact that it's not common knowledge.
> the Starlink stuff
You mean the stuff that requires a large, hot disc on your roof and therefore not in your pocket? Are we talking about the same things there?
> I'm pretty sure T-Mobile wouldn't have signed
You trust big companies too much, they make mistakes all the time.
Globalstar's capabilities aren't frozen either. The Apple deal uses most of their capacity, but they'll be launching additional satellites. While they're not in the current deal, Globalstar could launch a lower LEO service in the future. Cell phones with bigger antennas, like the case antennas in the new iPhones, would have better sat service communicating at Starlink's range.
We're also in relatively early days of large antenna deployment. AST's record-setting antennas are going to look quaint as launch costs and more complicated deployments continue to advance and benefit every satellite network.
You can't get an unassisted fix indoors now, but it's totally capable to get a fix near the window.
> pocket, indoors, with a 5G nearby
I assume this tech is to be used outdoors without a 5G nearby.
LoRa bitrate is very low and the range of LoRa is not even comparable with satellite communication. Moreover, normal smartphone are not LoRa compatible.
> LoRa provides for long-range communications: up to three miles (five kilometers) in urban areas, and up to 10 miles (15 kilometers) or more in rural areas (line of sight)
500km is one magnitude order more than the supposed range. And no phone has a LoRa chipset inside, neither the new ones.
The range limits are really around expected usage given omnidirectional antennas, unlicensed transmission power and terrestrial interference.
For LoS with a small (single) directional antenna it's easy to get another 10db. With a big dish you can go a lot higher.