#direct-to-device — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #direct-to-device, aggregated by home.social.
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The 3 legacy Telco's are teaming up and collectively getting into the direct-to-cell service arena - better hurry StarLink is already there and growing fast and Amazon Leo is coming up fast on the outside!
AT&T and Verizon already have partnership deals with AST SpaceMobile for satellite direct-to-device services with AST continuing to place satellites into orbit - next launch is scheduled for mid-June 2026. https://www.advanced-television.com/2026/05/14/att-t-mobile-verizon-for-satellite-jv/ #Mobility #DirecttoCell #Satellite #StarLink #Leo #Verizon #ATT #TMobile #AST #DirecttoDevice #Cellular #Communications
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FCC approves SpaceX spectrum deal with $2.4 billion escrow condition
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FCC throws out satellite spectrum challenges as D2D dealmaking heats up
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Univity funds VLEO 5G demonstrators with $32 million Series A
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FCC clears AST SpaceMobile constellation as launch setback clouds ramp-up
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AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird Satellite failed to achieve optimal orbit in launch on April 19, and it will be "deorbited".
The full-size mobile-broadband satellite was carried to space by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, and it successfully separated from the launch rocket and powered on but was placed into a lower orbit than planned.
AST SpaceMobile is building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly from standard, unmodified smartphones. https://www.pcmag.com/news/blue-origin-rocket-launches-then-loses-ast-spacemobile-bluebird-satellite #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #NewGlenn #Satellite #SpaceCraft #BlueBird #DirecttoDevice #BroadBand #Cellular
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ICYMI: Amazon acquires Globalstar to add direct-to-device coverage to Amazon Leo: Amazon acquires Globalstar, adding direct-to-device satellite coverage to Amazon Leo and absorbing Apple's Emergency SOS satellite infrastructure globally. https://ppc.land/amazon-acquires-globalstar-to-add-direct-to-device-coverage-to-amazon-leo/ #Amazon #Globalstar #SatelliteCoverage #TechNews #DirectToDevice
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D2D services are at risk of becoming too complicated and siloed
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SpaceX has officially rebranded its "Direct to Cell" phone-to-satellite service as "Starlink Mobile".
Starlink Mobile currently serves ~ 16M users. Company plans to build Gen 2 of its satellite constellation beginning in mid-2027 and suggests it will scale out the constellation over time, potentially to 15,000 satellites.
Empahsis = Starlink Mobile is not a replacement for existing cell services, it is "complementary to terrestrial networks".
We will see how long that positioning lasts!
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-makes-starlink-mobile-official-not-competing-with-carriers-mwc-2026 #MWC #Starlink #StarlinkMobile #MobilePhones #SmartPhones #DirecttoDevice #Satelitte #SpaceX #Molbility
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ESA announces 100 million euro satellite-mobile convergence initiative
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Competitors to the SpaceLink/T-Mobile Direct to Device Tie Up are Getting their Act Together
SpaceLink and T-Mobile are not the only players in the “Direct-to-Device” market. AST SpaceMobile successfully deployed the BlueBird 6 satellite into low earth orbit, and it will initially be leveraged by AT&T and Verizon in the United States. AST has agreements with more than 50 mobile network operators worldwide that will be served by BlueBird.
BlueBird 6 provides 10X the data capacity relative to previous versions and is designed to connect directly to standard smartphones without specialized hardware. The system supports peak data rates of up to 120 Mbps for voice, data, and video applications.
“Direct-to-Device” (or “Direct-to-Cell”) technologies will merge terrestrial mobile and orbital networks into a singular, ubiquitous fabric, paving the way for mass-market adoption.
https://news.satnews.com/2025/12/24/ast-spacemobile-deploys-bluebird-6-largest-commercial-array-in-leo/ #Mobility #MobilePhones #CellPhones #Satellites #AST #ATT #MNO #DirecttoDevice #Verison #BlurBird
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Are you ready to buy a mobile phone service plan from Elon Musk?
The FCC recently granted Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) licenses to SpaceX and T-Mobile which will usher in a major transformation in global telecommunications and mobile networks. “Direct-to-Device” (or “Direct-to-Cell”) technologies will merge terrestrial mobile and orbital networks into a singular, ubiquitous fabric, paving the way for mass-market adoption.
This is the first authorization that pairs a major national Mobile Network Operator (MNO) with an operating Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation, enabling satellite operators to reuse terrestrial mobile radio bands under lease from the primate MNO service provider, and as such this creates a de facto template for future MNO–satellite partnerships seeking similar rights. https://news.satnews.com/2025/12/17/fcc-grants-landmark-scs-license-to-spacex-t-mobile/
#Mobility #MobilePhones #CellPhones #Satellites #SpaceX #TMobile #SCS #MNO #NGSO #Telecommunications #DirecttoDevice -
Weekly output: LocalSend, Mark Vena podcast, AST SpaceMobile launch
I hope you all are enjoying the liminal time between Christmas and New Year’s–or, as I’ve come to think of it over the last 25-plus years, my last moments of occupational tranquility before work returns with force in the form of CES.
(I’ve used some of that semi-idle time to write an extra post for Patreon readers about the free trips that I didn’t take in the last quarter of this year.)
12/22/2025: This Free App Makes Transferring Files Between Devices Ridiculously Easy, PCMag
Quizzing LocalSend’s developer via e-mail taught me a lesson in how namespaces and nations can mix. As in: He goes by Tien Do Nam, in Vietnam last names come first, he lives in Berlin, so I thought to ask for his surname. He replied that the correct full name is Do Nam Tien, while his German documents list him as Tien Do Nam.
12/24/2025: Ep 117 SmartTechCheck Podcast — Trump’s impact on tech, AI data centers and energy, FCC and Google, Mark Vena
As the token Washingtonian on this podcast, I took up the first item on the agenda. My take on President Trump’s tech policy wasn’t all bad–it looks like the government is in line to save tens of billions of dollars in broadband-buildout costs, assuming that Amazon Leo satellite broadband comes online on schedule–but I can’t call it anything close to good overall.
12/24/2025: AST SpaceMobile Launches Its Most Powerful Direct-to-Cell Satellite Yet, PCMag
Was I going to use this post as an opportunity to remind PCMag readers about India’s impressive spaceflight ambitions? Absolutely.
#AirDrop #ASTSpaceMobile #BEAD #BlueBird #broadbandBuildout #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #IndiaSpaceProgram #LocalSend #lowEarthOrbitBroadband #LVM3 #MarkVena #QuickShare #satelliteBroadband #Starlink #TienDoNam
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Indian rocket launches AST SpaceMobile’s next-gen BlueBird 6 satellite
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Weekly output: FCC independence, Starlink mobile-broadband ambitions, TAE + TMTG, best WiFi hotspots
In addition to wrapping up my holiday shopping far later than I expected, this week saw me mostly finish migrating from Evernote to Obsidian after management at the note-taking app I’ve used since 2010 elected to impose a 92 percent rate increase.
12/18/2025: FCC Scrambles to Edit Website After Chair Refuses to Say Agency Is Independent, PCMag
Here we have yet another case of the 2025 version of FCC chair Brendan Carr taking a position on a tech-policy issue explicitly rejected by an earlier model year of this man. But this time around, the Trump-loyalist chairman made his heel turn even more obvious by apparently ordering up a hasty edit of the commission’s about-us page.
12/19/2025: SpaceX Exec Tips ‘Real’ High-Speed Cellular Starlink, With 15K More Satellites, PCMag
This story started with my attending a space-telecom conference in D.C. two Mondays ago, then I needed to educate myself much more about SpaceX’s ambitions for direct-to-device broadband from a future generation of Starlink satellites.
12/19/2025: Trump’s Truth Social to Merge With Fusion Startup You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, PCMag
Will the Trump family still be so enthusiastic about TAE Technologies if their backing somehow helps it finally commercialize fusion power generation and in so doing hammers the last nail into the coffin of the coal-fired power plants so beloved by our scientifically-illiterate president? (Answer: That question is probably irrelevant, because coal is already so uncompetitive that this administration’s fossil-fuel fetishists feel compelled to issue orders to keep obsolete coal plants online on a fake “emergency” basis.)
12/19/2025: The Best Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wirecutter
I updated the “What to look forward to” section of this guide–last updated almost a year ago–to note how AT&T has added two newer models to its lineup. One of them looks like an immense improvement over our previous pick from that carrier.
#ATTHotspots #BrendanCarr #cleanPower #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #FCC #FCCIndependentAgency #FranklinA70 #fusionPower #SpaceX #Starlink #TAE #TMTG #TrumpMediaTechnologyGroup #TruthSocial #WiFiHotspots
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OQ Technology links commercial IoT chipset to LEO satellite
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Google ubiegło Apple’a w Europie. Orange uruchamia satelitarne SMS-y. Zasięg obejmie również nasz kraj.
Wyścig o łączność satelitarną w smartfonach nabiera tempa. Podczas gdy Apple w Europie oferuje jedynie satelitarne połączenia alarmowe (SOS), Google, we współpracy z operatorem Orange, wprowadza pierwszą w Europie komercyjną usługę dwukierunkowych SMS-ów satelitarnych. Zasięg obejmuje Polskę!
Usługa o nazwie „Message Satellite” rusza już 11 grudnia 2025 roku. Warto jednak mieć na uwadze, że dostęp do niej będzie początkowo ograniczony do jednego operatora i jednej marki smartfonów.
Ekskluzywnie dla Pixeli i Orange
Zatem na start z tej innowacji skorzystają nieliczni. Usługa będzie początkowo dostępna na wyłączność dla posiadaczy smartfonów Google Pixel 9 oraz Pixel 10. Orange zastrzega, że jest to wyłączność tymczasowa i lista kompatybilnych urządzeń (z odpowiednim modemem satelitarnym) będzie się z czasem wydłużać.
Ponadto, aby zyskać dostęp do „kosmicznego” SMS-a, trzeba być także abonentem Orange 5G lub 5G+.
Jak to działa i ile kosztuje?
Usługa opiera się na rozwiązaniu „Direct to Device” i współpracy z firmą Skylo, operatorem sieci pozaziemskich (NTN). Smartfon łączy się bezpośrednio z satelitą, który przekazuje wiadomość do naziemnej sieci Orange.
Jaki zasięg? Choć oferta jest na razie skierowana do klientów we Francji kontynentalnej, zasięg obejmuje aż 36 krajów, w tym Polskę. To oznacza, że w regionach bez zasięgu naziemnego będziemy mogli wysłać wiadomość tekstową i swoją geolokalizację.
Jeżeli chodzi o cenę tego rozwiązania, to przez pierwsze 6 miesięcy usługa „Message Satellite” będzie darmowa. Po tym okresie abonament wyniesie 5 euro miesięcznie (około 21 zł).
W przeciwieństwie do Apple SOS (który jest jednokierunkowy i służy wyłącznie do wzywania pomocy), usługa Orange to pełnoprawny, dwukierunkowy SMS satelitarny.
Google Pixel z nowym panelem „Zdrowie urządzenia”. Sprawdzisz baterię i temperaturę w jednym miejscu
#appleSos #directToDevice #googlePixel9 #lacznoscSatelitarna #news #orange #pixel10 #satelitarnySms #skylo
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Sateliot opens Barcelona facility to build more capable direct-to-device satellites
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AST SpaceMobile sheds more light on sovereign direct-to-device plan for Europe
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EchoStar sells more spectrum in $2.6 billion deal for bigger SpaceX stake
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Kyivstar prepares to expand Starlink Direct to Cell testing across Ukraine
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Saudi Arabia’s stc Group commits $175 million prepayment in AST SpaceMobile deal
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Iridium pulls $1 billion 2030 service revenue goal amid SpaceX’s D2D push
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Viasat and Space42’s D2D joint venture finds first mobile partner in UAE
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AST SpaceMobile gains Verizon ally amid SpaceX’s direct-to-device push
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Sateliot hails first standards-based IoT connection from LEO to a commercial device
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EchoStar clears key regulatory step for spectrum sale to SpaceX
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What’s next for direct-to-device after SpaceX’s blockbuster spectrum deal
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OQ Technology expands satellite IoT services to Australia