Apple's feature is not comparable. It is extremely low bandwidth and requires special hardware and holding the phone pointing in a certain direction. Starlink acts as a regular (albeit low bandwidth) 4G tower in space.
Re:Starlink Direct to Cell
by quailfarmer on Monday November 25, 2024 @03:09AM
(#42234209)
Starlink DTC is also very low bandwidth in this generation, it’s is a fundamentally similar RF link budget
Starlink DTC bandwidth is orders of magnitude higher than Apple's.
Re:Starlink Direct to Cell
by everfrustrated on Monday November 25, 2024 @07:32AM
(#42235712)
Starlink allows calling (Apple's can't) which requires a higher bandwidth by definition.
Obviously it will never have the bandwidth of a local cell site, but doesn't need to to still be useful.
Probably they are using GSAT satellites.