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Communications

Starlink's First Nationwide Satellite Texting Service Goes Live In New Zealand (engadget.com) 22

Posted by BeauHD from the first-of-many dept.
SpaceX has partnered with telecommunications company One NZ to offer satellite-to-cell Starlink texting service to customers in New Zealand. It marks the first time a nationwide satellite text messaging service has been powered by Starlink. Engadget reports: Now onto the caveats, and there are a couple of big ones. Starlink texting is incredibly slow when compared to traditional methods. One NZ says that most messages should be sent and received within three minutes during the initial rollout, but admits that timeframe could increase to "10 minutes or longer." It is for this reason that the company continues to urge folks to carry a personal locator beacon when traveling to a remote area.

The service is also only supported by four smartphone models, which includes the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and OPPO Find X8 Pro. This list of eligible devices is expected to grow next year. The company also intends to eventually expand the service to include voice calling and data. The satellite service is free for existing One NZ customers on paid-monthly plans, but we don't know the pricing scheme for new customers or for those signed up for other types of contracts. Starlink is working with T-Mobile to do something similar in the U.S. Last month, the FCC approved a license for T-Mobile and SpaceX's Starlink to provide supplemental telecommunications coverage from space.
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Starlink's First Nationwide Satellite Texting Service Goes Live In New Zealand More

Starlink's First Nationwide Satellite Texting Service Goes Live In New Zealand

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  • so finally untraceable location communication? Stalin's dream of everybody carrying a tracking device is over?

    • Starlink will know where you are to approx GPS levels of accuracy.

      • I don't believe it would be anywhere near this accurate. It *may* be possible with a strong signal to get somewhere close, like say with an actual starlink terminal using a phased array antenna to send a directional signal. But phones on the other hand emit very weakly powered, omnidirectional signals. I think it's highly unlikely to be localized to any specific place within the 15 mile diameter hexagon covered by the spot beam. 15 miles isn't anywhere close to what GPS gets you. GPS is closer to around a 5

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rujiel ( 1632063 )
      Stalin's dream? Did Stalin invent the idea of a smartphone?
    • In Soviet Russia, Stalin's dream is over YOU.

  • It sure beats using some of the local birds carrying messages, since many of them are flightless.

    (but you could have used a Ruru (a type of owl) if you wanted to order more pork

    • I sea wai you did that.

    • For non-NZers, "One NZ" is Vodafone, aka VodaOne. Also their "supported devices" has in the past translated to "fscking expensive phones bought from us", eg they didn't enable VoWiFi on their network until maybe a year after they advertised it as being available, meaning it was available if you'd bought an expensive Samsung phone from them but not if you bought an equally VoWiFi-capable phone from someone else.

      Just had a quick look and, surprise surprise, their list of "supported devices" is a 1:1 match

  • The only people who will use this service are asswipe influencers and "social" media narcissists who just have to post via text a photo of themselves in some remote part of NZ where there is no cell service. Yeah, this is what the market was absolutely crying for.
    • This may save your life if you are stranded in an area with no cell service. A few weeks ago there was a news story about a Russian man being stranded on a drifting boat at sea for 67 days, next to two dead relatives: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/... [www.cbc.ca] He couldn't call for help because he had no network coverage. He could have had a personal locator beacon (as this article recommends), but he didn't. These things are expensive.
      • Ok, I suppose, but that service has been available on iphones for a few years now.

        • Ok, I suppose, but that service has been available on iphones for a few years now.

          The emergency texting came out at the end of 2022. Non emergency texting just came out this summer. I tried the non emergency this year but never could exchanges messages with the wife. No matter how I held or wiggled the phone, it just never sent. Keeping the Spot subscription for now.

          Pondering a getting the cheapest supported Android and T-Mobile plan to see if the Starlink coverage works better. Meh. More likely will continue with Spot and wait the year for their exclusivity deal to end.

      • The specifically said you should take a locator beacon. https://one.nz/why-choose-us/s... [one.nz] . So it may save your life but they aren't not taking liability if it doesn't

  • If this is going to do calls or data at any useful rate - how much will phone transmission power need to increase? Sure, less obstruction going up - but we're talking like 350 miles vs what, no more that 40 miles (and usually a lot less).

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