Cell phone/Satellite Phone Future?

[GTO]

I been wondering how long we will still have cell phones surely one of these days satellite phones will start taking over from cell phones?

So maybe in 10 years time or so we all have satellite phones?

Most of the places I go campimg have no cell phone reception which is what I prefer but in case of an emergency it would be nice to be able to have reception.

[sapper]

Maybe someday ,but for now the tecnology is way to expensive.SWAMBO works for SAAB Grintek and part of what they do is SAT phones ,and i have seen the prices on them NOT in my budget for sure

[Dirk]

I been wondering how long we will still have cell phones surely one of these days satellite phones will start taking over from cell phones?

So maybe in 10 years time or so we all have satellite phones?

Most of the places I go campimg have no cell phone reception which is what I prefer but in case of an emergency it would be nice to be able to have reception.

Still wondering?

8 years later, cell phones still in charge but I think with the increase of cell coverage sat phone use is declining? (Speculating now obviously).

[Fluffy]

Still wondering?

8 years later, cell phones still in charge but I think with the increase of cell coverage sat phone use is declining? (Speculating now obviously).

Quite simply, a satellite cannot route and switch and accommodate several hundred million simultaneous connections and calls.

That doesn't even take into account the HUGE latency that data is subject to. As much as it sounds appealing, unless we can recall Einstein to re-write his theories on relativetity and the speed of light, we are stuck with terrestrial systems.

[Jouko]

Large number of satellites were driven down years back. As I remember problem was that countries banned use of the sat phones due to licensing issues. There are several internet systems going up and as you know Skype and other data based phones are in wide use. Expect changes.

I made nearly free calls to 2 countries today. All calls very clear using Skype.

[Patrick L]

Quite simply, a satellite cannot route and switch and accommodate several hundred million simultaneous connections and calls.

That doesn't even take into account the HUGE latency that data is subject to. As much as it sounds appealing, unless we can recall Einstein to re-write his theories on relativetity and the speed of light, we are stuck with terrestrial systems.

I think it is more about capacity, as you mention, than data latency-?

Data via terrestrial cables/optic fibre travels at the speed of light, as does data via radio/radiation waves through air/vacuum travel at the speed of light.

Thus additional latency due to extra distance via satellite would be minimal ( at some 300 000km/s lightspeed, the extra few hundred kms. travel to bounce off a satellite would perhaps add 1 or 2 ten-thousandths of a second to a journey from one side of the globe to the other).

[Rainier Vermaak]

Quite simply, a satellite cannot route and switch and accommodate several hundred million simultaneous connections and calls.

That doesn't even take into account the HUGE latency that data is subject to. As much as it sounds appealing, unless we can recall Einstein to re-write his theories on relativetity and the speed of light, we are stuck with terrestrial systems.

Freudian slip?

[Jouko]

Currently there are several companies planning to use satellites. They would be on low orbit. My bet is that there will be again some issues with permits. Countries like China and Russia will not be happy. At the end there will be open systems. How long it will take I do not know. I got some articles to read:
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/elon-m...lite-internet/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...RE-planet.html
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15...et-launch-2019

There should be a third system in a planning face as I remember.

[Peter1949]

If cell coverage was ubiquitous then there would be NO need for a Sat phone.
However, do we really want false trees, towers etc. all over the wild areas?
And the cost of setting up towers for a relatively few people travelling in those areas?
I think the sat phone will have it's place for a while yet.

[Gungets Tuft]

Manny is going to consider this thread a spelling and grammar act of war ...

[pgreeff]

I suspect we will likely see a hybrid model of sorts in future. In densely populated areas where Internet presence is prevalent it will be more expensive to launch a few tiny satellites into the air so towers and antennas mounted on buildings will be here to stay, however, for sparsely populated areas or areas with no population we'd likely have the sat phone model. It is feasible that one day our phones will be able to switch and roam to satellite probably for a small fee.

We already have roaming to neighbouring countries on their networks. Some operators are already using WiFi for SIP calling on the network with your cell number, it is feasible that in future we would be able to seamlessly route our calls on WiFi. As soon as the radios are capable on our phones we should be able to roam to satellite as well, as long as there is some agreement between the networks. In all likelihood, the physical medium, satellite, cell tower, WiFi, some mesh network or even wired will become irrelevant. But that is probably for our kids to enjoy.