Verizon Satellite Texting

[Ben]

I had mentioned that I'm switching to T-Mobile as soon as Elon makes the starlink deal with them. I just saw a commercial from Verizon and it appears they are ahead on that game. I just looked it up, and it appears they have a deal with a company called Skylo for sat texting from your phone from anywhere.

I'm not sure how reliable this Skylo company is, but I'm glad to see that the cell providers are getting into this. As someone who is often out of cell service, I'd really like to see this become ubiquitous (sorry Garmin).

[WLJ]

Not much info in how or who's satellite network they plan on this working on.
More questions raised than answers

Skylo’s network to spread in 2024
https://spacenews.com/skylo-prepares-to-scale-network/

How satellite connectivity startup Skylo hooked backers such as Intel, BMW and Samsung to raise $37 million
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/13/startup-skylo-raises-37-million-from-intel-bmw-samsung.html

[dogmush]

Obviously implementation will get better as tech marches forward, but I have played with the Sat connectivity in the new iPhones (They have sat SOS baked in).  So far, it has not made me want to give up my Garmin InReach.

The phone needs to be held pretty steady, and is kinda touchy about horizons, and being blocked.  My InReach, I can pull out my phone, fire off a text, put the phone away and keep hiking and the Garmin will get my message out as I go.  Sat texting bandwidth is lower then cell SMS too, so the messages take a little longer to send.  I haven;t sent an iPhone SOS, but I can get it to go in and out of connectivity just by moving it, so I can imagine having to hold it pretty steady for 2-3 minutes to get the message out.  Not a big deal if you need an SOS, but annoying if you are firing a simple text.

I have no idea if it's an antenna issue (the phones obviously receive sat signals just fine on their GPS antenna),or a software issue, or a satellite constellation issue, or what.

Also the dedicated sat communicators can get you weather and maps (sometimes) which is nice.  I'm sure the phones will get there, but my understanding is that starting off it's just SMS functionality.

What I really wish is that elon would make me a Starlink terminal about 9" on a side, and let me turn the service off and on like Garmin does.  Then I could mount it on the overland rig next to the HAM antenna.

So for now, I'm still glad I have the Garmin. 

[Ben]

Obviously implementation will get better as tech marches forward, but I have played with the Sat connectivity in the new iPhones (They have sat SOS baked in).  So far, it has not made me want to give up my Garmin InReach.

So it looks like they still have a ways to go operationally.

Yeah, I would hope once it is well-implemented that it's not an ongoing cost on top of the normal bill. I'd like to be able to turn that stuff on and off, or even better for the amount I would use it, pay per message. Or an "emergency plan" of like $5/mo to keep it active and even a dollar per message on top of that.

[dogmush]

Well, Sample size of one, but yeah.  At least on the iPhone side.

Good news is it'll only get better.