Hacker News Reader

How many satellites will be needed to be operational? What’s chips are comparable with the new bands? I know that there is currently only one phone with the Motorola chip, the Huawei P20 Pro.

How long until the satellite launches will it be operational after the tests? I couldn’t seem to find any of this information anywhere. Just basic press releases.

View on HN

The only new signal (which I think isn't actually on a new band, it uses the same frequency as an existing signal) won't be online until 2020something when the new ground station software is ready. It may be a while before cell phones ship with chips that actually use the new signal. The L5 signal has been broadcast since 2010 and I think it took until this year for the first phones to ship with support for it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com