SpaceX, Rogers Strike Deal for Satellite Phone Service in Canada (bloomberg.com) 17
SpaceX and Rogers Communications struck a deal for satellite phone service in Canada -- a bid to bring emergency service to remote areas of the vast country that can't be reached through conventional wireless networks. From a report: The companies will use SpaceX's Starlink low-earth orbit satellites and begin with text service before adding voice and data coverage later, Rogers said in a statement. It didn't give a launch date for the new service. "In the future, these investments will deliver wireless connectivity, including access to 911, to even the most remote areas," Rogers Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri said in a statement. Staffieri was due to speak about the arrangement during his speech at the company's annual meeting on Wednesday.
The Three Headed Beast (Score:1)
Canada is a cool country in many ways. But it is probably the WORST country in the free world with regards to telephony/internet service providers.
Canadians have a word for it, "Robellus", a word designed to invoke images of a Lovecraftian three headed beast. One head for Rogers, one head for Bell, and finally Telus. The beast is regulatory capture perfected. Politicians, whether they are from the furthest peripheries of the political spectrum or whether they are merely swaying from side to side as they bal
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Musk knows no bounds
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Canada is a cool country in many ways. But it is probably the WORST country in the free world with regards to telephony/internet service providers.
Canadians have a word for it, "Robellus", a word designed to invoke images of a Lovecraftian three headed beast. One head for Rogers, one head for Bell, and finally Telus. The beast is regulatory capture perfected. Politicians, whether they are from the furthest peripheries of the political spectrum or whether they are merely swaying from side to side as they balance in the middle, dare not interfere with the Beast Robellus.
Sounds like T-Rizon&T. The U.S. has pretty much the same problem, just different names.
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The difference is that the US has a healthy MVNO ecosystem, which Canada lacks, and generally better offerings at comparable pricing. If you compare T-Mobile and Rogers, their unlimited tiers might seem similar, but once you use your 50GB or whatever, T-Mobile just gives you full speed at lower QoS priority, while Rogers caps you at 512 kilobits per second.
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T-Mobile suddenly capped my tethering data rate in the middle of a meeting today at a speed so slow that I waited 15 minutes trying to get speedtest.net to finish loading. Verizon caps tethering rates at speeds that are borderline unusable, too. I might try an MVNO, but I'm not holding my breath for usable service.
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> US has a healthy MVNO ecosystem, which Canada lacks
Oh. I didn't know:
"CRTC outlines rules for virtual wireless companies — but they'll still need their own networks" - https://www.cbc.ca/news/busine... [www.cbc.ca]
I'm on Fizz which is on, and owned, by Videotron. Prices are pretty good after 4 years of accumulated rebates:
Unlimited Quebec calls and texts, voice mail, and 1.25 Gs of data for 22$ a month and unlimited internet at 10 Mbps for 25$ a month.
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In the Canadian context, you can think of MVNOs like the cellular equivalent of TPIAs like TekSavvy, who pays for wholesale access to the infrastructure. So a flanker brand like Fizz isn't an MVNO, it's just a marketing brand of their parent company.
1.25 GB for $22 is extremely expensive per gigabyte, even in Quebec. I'm getting something like 48GB for $60, so you're paying 14x more per gigabyte. Now, you might say, I'm paying more overall, and you can't compare a high-end plan to an entry-level plan. Excep
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> Canada has some of the highest mobile pricing in the world.
I believe it, especially seeing my friends bills considering what they're paying for.
My phone actually doesn't come with data for the 22$. The 1.25 GB (soon to be 1.5 GB) is the free data I get from accumulated loyalty rewards, the data also expires after 90 days and I use about half that most of the time so I have a balance of 3.5 GB right now.
By the way Videotron's minimum mobile + internet plan is about double what I pay. I'd get more data a
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If we were more densely populated, we could have cheaper telecom. But we aren't, and we don't. Cell infrastructure costs money, and we deliver it to some remote regions that don't even begin to pay for themselves.
SpaceX to cover 100% of New Zealand by late 2024 (Score:4, Interesting)
Vodafone NZ (now rebranded as "One NZ") made a joint press release with SpaceX just a few weeks ago. [reuters.com]
"When the service goes live, there will be coverage across the country whether you’re out on your boat, climbing a mountain, fixing a remote road or on your farm,” One New Zealand Chief Executive Jason Paris said.
No mention of this being for emergency use only. The wording of their announcement implies that it will be regular voice and data coverage everywhere.
Not giving a launch date is wise (Score:3)
For direct phone-to-satellite service SpaceX needs the new V2 satellites. They can only launch a smaller version of these on the F9 and not many of them per launch. So to get enough of them into orbit they need Starship. Starship development isn't going exactly to plan though. OK, the plan was more than ambitious, they were basically planning to whip out a fully reusable heavy lifter out in no time and get it operational and this on a budget others would hardly start to bend metal for.
But it is wise to not announce a launch date for this service. May take one year, may take four years.
Apple probably also was wise to use an existing provider for their emergency sat system (Globalstar) even if it has just a very narrow use case because data rates are extremely low and you basically need to point your phone just right at the sky for minutes. But in an emergency it already is much better to have than nothing.
Rogers are criminals. (Score:1, Insightful)
Ok but... (Score:5, Funny)
"In the future, these investments will deliver wireless connectivity, including access to 911, to even the most remote areas," Rogers Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri said in a statement.
Ok, that's... good, I guess. I question how useful it will be.
911 Operator: "911, what is your emergency?"
Hapless Canuck: "I've been attacked by a polar bear!"
911 Operator: "Ok, I see from your GPS coordinates that you're near Baker Lake. We can have a float plane out there in 14 hours. Will you still be alive?
Hapless Canuck: "Uh no, sorry."
911 Operator: "I'm afraid we won't be able to help you then. Have you tried hitting it with a hockey stick?"
Hapless Canuck: "Of course! First thing!"
911 Operator: "And?"
Hapless Canuck: "It hit me back with its hockey stick!"
911 Operator: "Rude. Was it wearing a jersey?"
Hapless Canuck: "Yes. Flames."
911 Operator: "Well there's your problem. After losing Gaudreau and Tkachuk and missing the playoffs, is it any wonder he's grumpy?"
Hapless Canuck: "You have a point. Ok, I have to go. The blood loss is getting really significant."
911 Operator: "Thanks for calling your friendly more-or-less-in-the-same-hemisphere 911 service."
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True. Immediate emergencies probably not so helpful just given the sheer size and coverage.
However, could have life saving capabilities for say search and rescue applications.
i.e. I see exactly where you are, sending help. Start a fire and try not to freeze to death in the next 14 hours it will take us to get there. Or I see where you are, head to this location and we'll meet you there for pickup.
That said, not sure how this is going to work. Most phones don't actually have real GPS in them, but triangulate
It's crazy to do business with Musk (Score:2)
You've seen how he handled Twitter. Rogers is greedy, but Musk will destroy a company for politics, petty revenge, or for child-like whims if it doesn't serve his ego first and foremost.
That may work out for a rocket company. Maybe even mostly for a car company. But it doesn't seem like the most stable option for national communications infrastructure.