It would have to go directly to the phone. Starlink already has satellites in orbit that can send SMS directly to the phone. I believe T-Mobile has a deal with starlink to do this
From the comments below I understood that part but will the current infrastructure in place be able to handle all the bandwidth? I would understand if they are just trying to preserve calling and sms but internet as well? When the power went out one time where I live, everyone was using the cell towers at the same time and the internet wasn't usable, though sms and calling did without issue. Kind of like how when you go to a concert and the phones don't work, everybody is hogging the bandwidth. I can't even imagine if you are in a city like New York or Los Angeles. Unless T-mobile has upgraded their equipment that I don't know about. I also know you can directly connect to the satellite with the phone but that's only available with 5G devices, so what would happen to those that don't have 5G?
Edit: Disregard the last question, I'm a dumb dumb.
Sorry just double checked. I heard Elon Musk and the ceo of T-mobile say during the press conference that it will work on current 5G devices so I assumed it meant only 5G. Did more digging and it's actually using the 4G spectrum of 1900Mhz my bad. Disregard what I said previously. Still, from the article the plan is only for sms with voice and maybe data in the future.
It would have to go directly to the phone. Starlink already has satellites in orbit that can send SMS directly to the phone. I believe T-Mobile has a deal with starlink to do this
From the comments below I understood that part but will the current infrastructure in place be able to handle all the bandwidth? I would understand if they are just trying to preserve calling and sms but internet as well? When the power went out one time where I live, everyone was using the cell towers at the same time and the internet wasn't usable, though sms and calling did without issue. Kind of like how when you go to a concert and the phones don't work, everybody is hogging the bandwidth. I can't even imagine if you are in a city like New York or Los Angeles. Unless T-mobile has upgraded their equipment that I don't know about. I also know you can directly connect to the satellite with the phone but that's only available with 5G devices, so what would happen to those that don't have 5G?
Edit: Disregard the last question, I'm a dumb dumb.
Oh that's interesting, I didn't know that it required 5G
Sorry just double checked. I heard Elon Musk and the ceo of T-mobile say during the press conference that it will work on current 5G devices so I assumed it meant only 5G. Did more digging and it's actually using the 4G spectrum of 1900Mhz my bad. Disregard what I said previously. Still, from the article the plan is only for sms with voice and maybe data in the future.