Here's everything you need to know about Starlink's direct-to-cell service

(Image: Starlink)

Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX has launched six satellites which can send phone signals from space directly to phones, promising "seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters without changing hardware or firmware".

A cell phone tower in space

The Starlink satellites that have been launched have advanced eNodeB modems, which are critical to providing LTE connectivity and act as a base station that handle the interface with mobile devices.

LTE or Long Term Evolution, sometimes referred to as 4G, is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals. It is used by phone carriers to deliver wireless data to a consumers’ phones.

The modems handle radio-link protocols, enabling network functions with 4G LTE capable hardware. They don't need a cellphone operator to connect with a smartphone and can directly send a signal to unmodified cell phones.

Starlink has partnered with T-mobile in the United States to test the network. The company says that no new hardware is required and the network will work with existing 4G LTE phones.

(Image: Starlink)

What does Starlink intend to do with the technology?

The company does not intend to directly compete with network providers, instead it will offer its services and partner with providers to help them fill gaps in remote areas where cell towers are not present or signals are weak.

A big reason for this is that the network speeds compared to terrestrial networks are not competitive. According to Musk's tweet, the network only provides 7Mbps per beam, which is very slow compared to standard cell phone networks. For example - According to Ookla's Speedtest Global Index, Indian networks have a mobile data speed of 94.62Mbps on average.

This will allow for mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.

Note, this only supports ~7Mb per beam and the beams are very big, so while this is a great solution for locations with no cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial… https://t.co/ymHpw8XBHl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2024

While this is great for remote areas where network signals are hard to come by, it cannot compete meaningfully with existing network providers.

The current plan is to test the network with T-mobile and slowly start rolling out the service to the rest of the world.

According to Starlink's Direct to Cell website, it plans to launch SMS text services over satellites sometime in 2024 followed by voice and data services the next year. This will be followed by support for Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices in 2025.