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iPhone's Life-Saving Satellite Feature Launching in Additional Countries Next Year
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"In technical terms it is my understanding that the Globalstar constellation has long had an extra 10 megabits-per-second of Block 53 bandwidth that has gone generally unused but available to a specific Qualcomm chipset. This strongly implies that such satellite capability wouldn’t be limited to the iPhone 14 but has probably been there all along for any phones using that chipset."
What yesterday’s Apple satellite announcement really means | I, Cringely
The SpaceX/T-Mobile announcement two weeks ago took away from Apple its ability to control the pace of change for cellular in space.
www.cringely.com
It's time for Steve Jobs to unlock the satellite capability on older iPhones!
Nope. There will be options of a subscription fee or a per incident charge at a higher price.
Oh please. Do you actually think that during this SOS, someone will ask for for xx dollars to save your life and if you don't have it, they will leave you to die? Anyone who thinks this has some serious issues. No prices are negotiated during a rescue.
STOP worrying about this cost stuff. Any cost announcements are way off in the future. Does it really have any bearing on your life now? If you don't have a satellite communicator now, then you probably aren't frequently doing the things that would make people use a full fledged sat device. If you are worried about future Apple charges that won't be acceptable, then start budgeting now for a dedicated sat communicator.
This isn’t a rescue service, it’s a satellite call center. All they do is relay information to emergency services. Subscription fees will likely be close to what in-reach charges since I believe they use the same satellites. If you don’t subscribe, you don’t get a connection. If they has single use fees, no one would subscribe and the service would shutdown lol.
Whatever your emergency service fees are is completely different and absolutely not covered by apple lol.
my wild guess is that apple will continue with free emergency SOS, but charge for full internet capability as that is developed.. the free PR apple got from that ‘car off a cliff’ incident in LA was incalculable. Those people were just outside LA. The most populous city in the USA. There are a lot of cellphone dead zones even in California. Be prepared for many more ‘saved by iPhone 14’ stories.
And the Apple cynicism continues. That's pretty much become the standard currency here.
Apple spends a lot of $$$ and develops a novel service and hardware for their mobile phone. So far, there have been a couple of stories where people at risk of losing their life have been saved using that service.
And the result are people tripping over themselves trying to dig at Apple suggesting it's an Apple PR ploy, or focuses on how the actual rescue service that extracts people from peril will cost so much money that losing their lives might be worth it, or whining about it eventually becoming an optional service like Apple Music, or cost $$$$ per event, and on and on and on. Just as I predicted earlier in the previous related story a few days ago.
Apple spends a lot of $$$ and develops a novel service and hardware for their mobile phone. So far, there have been a couple of stories where people at risk of losing their life have been saved using that service.
And the result are people tripping over themselves trying to dig at Apple suggesting it's an Apple PR ploy, or focuses on how the actual rescue service that extracts people from peril will cost so much money that losing their lives might be worth it, or whining about it eventually becoming an optional service like Apple Music, or cost $$$$ per event, and on and on and on. Just as I predicted earlier in the previous related story a few days ago.
I am not an outdoor person, but I do enjoy hiking occasionally. I might consider upgrading if it is supported in Asia alongside other camera improvements. Then my phone would become my ultimate hiking equipment.
Lots of speculation on what the fee will be in the future. But we do have some facts, and one is that 2 years are free with a new phone. So the monthly fee can’t be greater than the monthly phone payment on a 2-year contract, otherwise you’d just get a new phone if you wanted the service. Which is a comment that I made on another thread, maybe a small incentive to trade in for a new phone or a small reward for the frequent upgraders.
It’s a free feature that Android doesn’t have, for 2 years. After that it costs you nothing if you choose not to use it.
It’s a free feature that Android doesn’t have, for 2 years. After that it costs you nothing if you choose not to use it.
You can call it "dead zone" but there are several European cities with high tech industry, universities, intercity rail connections, airports, and even McDonald's above 62° latitude. Plus less expensive and generally faster 5G coverage than in the US. Iceland is above that latitude, as well as large parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. (There are some fairly big cities high up in the north also in the rogue state east from the ones mentioned above.)
It is good to understand that the climate is much milder in Europe at high latitudes than in NA.
There is this thing called insurance... One-time cost sounds like a bargain even if it is hundreds of dollars.
I agree with your general sentiment.
But the Apple satellite service is what, less than 30 days old? ROFL, speed in implementation is not something that Apple is known for, so hey, how about we give ‘em another 90 days?
IOW, this is a long-term venture, not something that‘s complete on launch.
Starlink could offer more than emergency services for example. Maybe text messages to family and so on. I guess regulations over bands would be a problem, but if Musk was keen on the idea then I guess it’s possible even now.
Encryption is also better I believe.
Technically yes, but individual countries can allow it or not.
China will not allow it. India didn’t allow the use of sat phones after some famous terrorist attacks many years ago - still don’t know how they feel about Apple’s service - anyone know for sure?
Huh? I don’t understand what starlink has to do with it.
Say, are you gaslighting? The word of the year I think!
All I’m saying is that there are more options out there. Some say the bands are a problem for Starlink, but Musk didn't seem phased by use in the iPhone.
Yep. Apple is investing $450 million to Globalstar's next generation satellites. Plus building out call centers to handle SOS messages.
People here are so fast to tear down an outstanding system just so they can have their daily feel-good fix slagging on Apple. I'm guessing some are still in high school - and that's sort of OK for being a juvenile.
What's sad are the adults that have failed to mature. And likely never will.
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