IF YOU'VE EVER pulled out your phone in a rural area, you'll know that it can be a frustrating experience. Will the website load? Will you be able to send that message? Or maybe things are even worse: do you have enough signal to call for help?
Despite our phones being critical to our lives, not all phone signals are distributed evenly. According to Ofcom, network coverage of the UK landmass ranges from around 79 to 86 per cent. This means that if you hike up a mountain, or take a wander through the wilderness, you might be really stuck if disaster strikes.
And that's why an announcement made by Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and American phone network T-Mobile recently blew my mind a little.
Way back in January 2021 I wrote about how SpaceX is building StarLink, a new “mega-constellation” of broadband internet satellites. Since then, the company has continued to launch hundreds and hundreds of new satellites, and today for a mere £89 a month, it’s possible to receive speeds of between 90 and 200Mbps almost anywhere on Earth. That’s about as fast as a lower-end home broadband package—but with no ground-based phone masts or transmitters required.
This story is from the December 2022 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
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This story is from the December 2022 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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