Starlink Direct to Cell

Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by simonw on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:23PM (#37848290)

"Direct to Cell works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky. No changes to hardware, firmware, or special apps are required, providing seamless access to text, voice, and data."

"Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capability have an advanced eNodeB modem onboard that acts like a cellphone tower in space, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner."

It looks like all that's new here is the website: the service itself has been announced for over a year now. Here's one story about it from March: https://www.engadget.com/spacex-is-getting-ready-to-test-its...

And here's a story covering the initial announcement in August 2022 as a partnership with T-Mobile: https://www.engadget.com/t-mobile-starlink-partnership-01253...

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by toomuchtodo on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:29PM (#37848365)

That Loon LTE IP purchase is paying off.

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by hiatus on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:43PM (#37848573)

I can't find anything public about Starlink purchasing Loon IP, could you share more?

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by ClassicOrgin on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:58PM (#37848778)

This might just be a misunderstanding. I believe Loon is still owned by Google X, which changed its name to X Development and sometimes just calls itself X. Then of course you have the unrelated Musk company also called X.

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by toomuchtodo on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:24PM (#37849104)

Not a misunderstanding, mostly rumors [1]. When Loon shut down [2], they made a non-assertion pledge for roughly 200 patents originated during the project's lifetime [3]. Part of the platform was an LTE stack [4], and those patents aren't in the non-assertion pledge. The interesting bit is:

> To support ongoing innovation in the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) communications industry, Loon transferred a number of stratospheric ballooning and networking patents to partners working in similar fields.

Hard to say for certain of course without any public records with regards to an IP transaction or patent/FCC filings. Google and Fidelity invested $1B in SpaceX previously (2015), which leads us to the thesis that Loon died because of Starlink.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37806035

[2] https://x.company/projects/loon/

[3] https://storage.googleapis.com/x-prod.appspot.com/files/Loon...

[3] https://thenextweb.com/news/google-celebrates-project-loons-...

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by mlindner on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:28PM (#37849171)

I think believing random comments off of hacker news without verification or source makes questionable sense. The name "X" isn't unique (which is part of the problem with it) as you're exactly discovering.

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by toomuchtodo on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:34PM (#37849226)

Respectfully, I am not confusing Twitter (X) with Google's Moonshot company (also X). Of course, don't believe random internet comments with validation for any purpose beyond discussion. It is entirely possible nothing from Loon made it into Starlink satellites, and all the IP went to Aalyria (a StarLink competitor).

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/google-spinoff-aalyr...

https://www.aalyria.com/

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by piperswe on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:28PM (#37848350)

I think there's some new info in the carrier list too:

  - T-Mobile [US] (we knew this one)
  - Rogers [CA]
  - KDDI [JP]
  - Optus [AU]
  - One NZ [NZ]
  - Salt [CH]

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by dzhiurgis on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @02:52PM (#37848699)

Wonder how it’s going to work if you use a mvno?

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by throwaway2037 on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @10:00PM (#37852655)

My guess: It will not be offered as a service.

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by Scoundreller on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:06PM (#37848875)

For Rogers… they’re probably going to charge a lot.

Not surprised to see them signing on instead of Bell/Telus; Rogers has much poorer coverage in the sticks than Bell/Telus.

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Re:Starlink Direct to Cell by inemesitaffia on Wednesday October 11, 2023 @03:43PM (#37849329)

There's nothing new here to me. Heard about the individual announcements

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