Hacker News Reader

I like to ask non-techies how they imagine their text messages go from the US to Europe. Most people think it is some form of wireless communication like satellite or cellular. They are quite surprised when they realize that it is just one really long string over the Atlantic.

View on HN

under the Atlantic* ;)

Well they are partly right as phone uses satellite communication with 4G to communicate with telecom backbone

None of the following technologies: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, currently use satellites between the consumers' phone and the internet backbone.

In very rural areas, cell phone towers use microwave repeaters to get to a hub station that has a hard line connection to the backbone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com