AST SpaceMobile successfully tests cell-to-satellite calls transmitting video
According to press releases from both Verizon and AT&T on February 24, 2025, each has successfully tested cellphone-to-satellite video calls using the first set of satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellite constellation. From ATT:
AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have successfully completed a video call by satellite over AT&T spectrum using the BlueBird satellites launched last September. These are the same satellites that will be used to start commercial service.
From Verizon:
Verizon and AST have yet again pushed the boundaries of what can be done with mobile devices by successfully trialing a live video call between two mobile devices with one connected via satellite and the other connected via Verizon’s terrestrial network connection.
The satellites will essentially act like cell towers in space, filling in all dead spots not reached by ground-based towers.
AST’s constellation is competing with Starlink, which has signed T-Mobile for its service. In addition, Eutelsat-Oneweb has just successfully tested using its satellite constellation for the same purpose.
I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth, thus reducing their costs significantly and thus lowering the cost to their customers.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
According to press releases from both Verizon and AT&T on February 24, 2025, each has successfully tested cellphone-to-satellite video calls using the first set of satellites in AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellite constellation. From ATT:
AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have successfully completed a video call by satellite over AT&T spectrum using the BlueBird satellites launched last September. These are the same satellites that will be used to start commercial service.
From Verizon:
Verizon and AST have yet again pushed the boundaries of what can be done with mobile devices by successfully trialing a live video call between two mobile devices with one connected via satellite and the other connected via Verizon’s terrestrial network connection.
The satellites will essentially act like cell towers in space, filling in all dead spots not reached by ground-based towers.
AST’s constellation is competing with Starlink, which has signed T-Mobile for its service. In addition, Eutelsat-Oneweb has just successfully tested using its satellite constellation for the same purpose.
I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth, thus reducing their costs significantly and thus lowering the cost to their customers.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
”I suspect that in time, when these satellite systems have been thoroughly tested and have become operational, they will allow these phone networks to begin decommissioning their cell towers on Earth…”
I don’t. Maybe a few towers in remote locations, but not more than a tiny fraction of them. No system, operational or proposed — not even Starlink — has even close to the capacity to replace terrestrial cell towers. What these satellite systems will do is fill in the coverage gaps of existing tower networks. That’s a big deal and enough business by itself for multiple satellite systems.