I am curious if this works if you are out in the middle of the ocean in international waters? (Eventually?)
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Apple and Globalstar Rumored to Announce Satellite Connectivity Feature for iPhone 14 at September 7 Event
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Wrong on several levels:
From a recent (US) FCC broadband report:
“approximately 19 million Americans—6 percent of the population—still lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. In rural areas, nearly one-fourth of the population —14.5 million people—lack access to this service. In tribal areas, nearly one-third of the population lacks access. Even in areas where broadband is available, approximately 100 million Americans still do not subscribe.”
Besides, even the lucky people with broadband occasionally move to areas outside their home where there is little or no coverage.
Edit: clarified that this is from the US FCC for our non-American Macrumors friends
Are you claiming that most people have full bars everywhere they go?
I think it will be available everywhere that satellites reach. Doesn't seem to be a reason to limit it to a country
And that $12 a month gets you, what, 40 messages a month?
Satellite based connectivity is clearly a huge, huge component of the future communications grid. This would just be the first step.
I, for one, am less than thrilled. We don’t need to disperse the Insta Phone Zombies across every corner of the globe.
Just hang with your iPhone 14 pro max buddy all the time.nice, but am I going to upgrade my 13PM because of it - nah, another year without that feature I shall survive
Given the amount of travel we do through dead zones as well as camping and hiking this would push me to upgrade for certain.
That's what I was thinking. It would be great on the Apple Watch. Hopefully not just the rumored Rugged Edition.
Finally someone who sees the bigger picture. People get blinded by the feature itself not thinking that this is just a first step to something bigger. Even if it sounds pointless now this small step is needed.
Also, movies will need to adjust. No more ****** "no signal" horror movies. Now they will be able to use only "no battery" as a complication to their crappy stories
Also, movies will need to adjust. No more ****** "no signal" horror movies. Now they will be able to use only "no battery" as a complication to their crappy stories
Worth emphasizing that this rumor is only about messaging, and just text messaging at that.
Still incredibly useful and a definite harbinger of things to come. There are many many places where it simply isn’t feasible to install land-based communication towers. (Although those old enough to remember analog cell days probably recall how amazing the voice coverage in remote areas used to be)
Still incredibly useful and a definite harbinger of things to come. There are many many places where it simply isn’t feasible to install land-based communication towers. (Although those old enough to remember analog cell days probably recall how amazing the voice coverage in remote areas used to be)
Where I live I do a lot of mountain biking in areas with little to no service. This feature would be AWESOME.
If Starlinks solution to this is to use existing 5G bandwidth and this gets approved by regulators, there wouldn't be anything that Apple needed to do. Seems like a win win IMO.
Sounds great for those with spotty cell service or those traveling in 'No Man's Land'.
Just hope there isn't a catch.
Just hope there isn't a catch.
and since it has nothing to do with Astro-photography, I expect 59% less jokes about the PLANET Uranus.
Does every issue have to be mainstream in order to be fixed/enhanced? If you're that fairly rare person with an emergency in an area of no cell coverage, you'd pay or do anything to get help. Or would you be satisfied to die out there in the desert because you're a minuscule edge case?
Absolutely spot on. Only thing is though I wonder, this is only going to improve coverage when outdoors under clear sky, right? That's where cellular reception already works best anyway.
Definitely would bring some level of coverage to way more people, but my current biggest problem with coverage is indoors. Even the iPhone 13 Pro with two entirely different network operators to choose from usually completely drops out when indoors.
This seems like Apple's first step to becoming their own MVNO so I'm sure that's on the roadmap.
It's completely incomprehensible that there are people who don't understand this. Who think that every problem that isn't mainstream should be ignored and criticized. I suspect it will be mainstream enough if that person needs to get a message out that may save their life.
I recently drove the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Los Angeles and there were multiple periods where I had no service.
I was genuinely worried about what I would/could have done if I need assistance during these black outs, so this would be a welcome addition.
But so would offline maps…
I was genuinely worried about what I would/could have done if I need assistance during these black outs, so this would be a welcome addition.
But so would offline maps…
The win here will be for T-Mobile since current iPhones will be able to use the feature without new hardware.
I doubt it will work here, as usual it will roll out first in the US and then for us Europeans. I'm sure they can't bring it out here at launch due to some bureaucratic limitation. It's a pity because even where I live (Spain), coverage drops a lot when out of the urban areas.
About 8 months ago, while doing downhill biking I hit a rock and fell off my bike. I hit myself pretty hard (broke a rib), and there was no cellular signal. My Apple Watch did go off telling me I took a hard fall, however I had to get my **** together and bike 20km to the hospital, in pain.
If I weren't able to bike or get back by myself (unconscious), I would've had to just wait for some relative to report me missing and pinpoint the area where I usually bike, and wait for rescue, or wake up and drag myself to a spot where there would be signal.
This feature looks good, if it turns out to be true!
This. Even if I wanted to upgrade, not sure just texting would push me through unless I was an avid outside explorer of territory I have never been to.
Compare the Apple Watch Saved My Life stories with GlobalStar's Saved By SPOT campaign.
Having a heart issue is an edge case, but you might want to have a device that can alert you to potential problems. Running into problems while hiking might be an edge case, but you might want to have a device that can get an SOS out when it's needed.
Having a heart issue is an edge case, but you might want to have a device that can alert you to potential problems. Running into problems while hiking might be an edge case, but you might want to have a device that can get an SOS out when it's needed.
A problem 0.00004% of the population will ever encounter.