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Elon Musk is giving back to the world of telecommunications, and while there's controversy surrounding his roles with Tesla and the Department of Government Efficiency, he's in people's good books with his latest innovation at Starlink.
Even though the world's mobile network is better than ever, there are still 'dead zones' across the world where we're left without signal. Well, not for long.
After Starlink offered free dishes to certain customers, it's back in the news thanks to a 'groundbreaking' feature that's set to revolutionize all our signal woes.
The introduction of Direct to Cell capabilities means you'll no longer need specialized equipment to make satellite calls, supposedly no matter where you are in the world.
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Elon Musk has been praised for showing what Starlink can really do, with a whole host of smartphones being compatible with Direct to Cell.
Starlink's Direct to Cell satellites are equipped with an eNodeB modem that effectively becomes a cellphone tower in the stars.
The official site explains: "Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities enable ubiquitous access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters. Direct to Cell will also connect IoT devices with common LTE standards."
As long as your phone has LTE (Long Term Evolution), Direct to Cell has been "engineered to eliminate mobile dead zones around the world."
It's tipped to revolutionize emergency situations on a much bigger scale than Apple's Emergency SOS capabilities.
Looking further ahead, there are plans for Direct to Cell to provide internet signal to other remote areas.
While Direct to Cell sounds like a great idea, it obviously comes with a catch.
The service won't be free, and currently, Starlink has partnered with T-Mobile to roll out the feature for text messages. It hopes to expand to voice calls and internet data by the end of 2025, but it's only for those who are part of the network's pricier Go5G Next plan that's currently on sale on the T-Mobile site for $180 a month.
If you want to make the switch, you can add the Starlink services for an extra $15 a month.
Early adopters will be 'rewarded' by adding the service for $10 a month.
If you aren't on T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon are offering Starlink's Direct to Cell for $20 per month
Over on Reddit, there was a vocal backlash to the pricing.
One disgruntled Redditor wrote: "Texting is all it can do right now. Who knows what they do with pricing in the future.”
Another grumbled: "When they announced this in starbase, didn't they say it would be included in current plans? I must be remembering it wrong..."
When one argued it's 'cheap', someone else concluded: "Because it's all but useless."
As noted by Payload, T-Mobile could already be reaping the benefits of this lucrative partnership, with stock jumping by 3% and adding $8 billion to the company's market value. It's a shrewd move considering T-Mobile spent $8 million on a Super Bowl ad to promote the service and offer 128 million viewers a few months of free Starlink (no matter the carrier). Phone users in the USA apparently experience call dead zones less than 1% of the time, although data dead zones are higher - especially in rural areas where there is a lack of cell towers. Still, with dead zones being a relatively minor problem, it's unclear who'll be stumping up for this premium offering.
The Reddit comments prove there will be plenty of you who are skipping out on this one.
