D2D satellite services are here and now
But there are still plenty of places they won't work
We've compiled a list for you
Direct-to-device (D2D) services between satellites and 5G — and even 4G — phones are actually something to watch in 2025.
Apple led the way with its Emergency SOS service to connect the iPhone 14 to satellites when users can’t access WiFi or cellular in November 2022. Apple has rolled out this service for every iPhone model after the 14, but it never actually sold it as anything more than an emergency link to first responders.
This is not the case with billionaire blowhard Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Starlink D2D venture with T-Mobile which is actually starting to come online right about now after a lot of talk about the service since October 2022. Starlink and T-Mobile, for instance, have switched on D2D emergency text messaging for users caught in the Los Angeles wildfires and T-Mobile is advertising the service as “a game changer for those going off the beaten track.”
Off the beaten track
The words “off the beaten track” are key in that ad copy though, and even then the service will not work in all areas, because as T-Mobile said, you need “a clear view of the sky."
That has not stopped Starlink fanbois claiming that the service could “significantly disrupt the telecommunications industry” delivering high bandwidth and video from space.
Here's where your brand new D2D service WON'T actually work:
1: Indoors
Obviously, your satellite to cell service won’t work indoors when you don’t have a good view of the sky. Kind of puts paid to the idea of such services disrupting the telecoms industry doesn’t it? More importantly, for emergency texting services, D2D won’t work if you’re trapped under an I-Beam in a collapsed building, so bad luck there!
2: The Amazon rainforest
Clearly, there are still areas of the Amazon rainforest that are so heavily forested that you won’t get a connection holding your phone up to the steamy forest canopy.
3: North Maine Woods
You might think that heavily forested areas only exist in areas like Brazil or Peru, but that ain’t the case at all. There are heavily forested areas across several parts of the United States and Canada. In parts of Maine - at certain parts of the year - you are going to struggle to get to get a D2D connection under the dense green foliage of North Maine Woods, for instance.
“D2D services won’t work well indoors or in heavy forest cover,” analyst Madden commented. “The radio signal transmitted from a phone is extremely weak when received by the satellite, so these services are very vulnerable to blockage,” he added.
4: Merlin’s Cave, Tintagel, Cornwall
There are many lovely caves around the coast of Cornwall worth visiting when you are on holiday in the southwest of England. You, however, will need a supernatural power to get a satellite connection when you’re in Merlin’s Cave in Tintagel, King Arthur’s supposed home base. Arthur may have been able to pull the sword out of the stone but even he couldn’t get a D2D connection.
5: Billionaire’s Row, 57th Street, Manhattan, New York
The street with the most tall buildings in New York City. If you’ve ever lived in New York City, you already know that the existing satellite global positioning systems (GPS) are blocked by large buildings in certain areas of Manhattan, like in areas of the financial district in Manhattan. The same will be true for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites used to provide D2D services.
It won’t matter much of course because NYC has extensive 5G cellular and WiFi coverage, so why would you need the sub-1 megabit per second connection that a satellite offers?
“You will see a lot of hype about ‘cell service everywhere’, but it’s better to think about these D2D services as a text-message service that might evolve for voice coverage, and won’t be economically feasible for heavy data applications like video streaming,” commented Mobile Experts analyst Joe Madden in an email to Fierce.
Noted, Joe. Ooof.