iOS 18 will have satellite iMessage and SMS | Hacker News Reader

iOS 18 will have satellite iMessage and SMS

washingtonpost.com

8 pointsbookofjoe6 comments

It be interesting to know what type of infrastructure is behind this, who‘s satellites does Apple use? I’m guessing they must partner with a service? Are satellite ISP‘s a thing (I have no clue)? I mean supporting the amount of iPhones in the US and considering camping is sort of booming, I feel like Apple will create quite a load on „satellite internet“.

Globalstar. Reading their recent investor filings with the SEC has been a fun read.

https://investors.globalstar.com/sec-filings/sec-filing/10-k... https://investors.globalstar.com/sec-filings/sec-filing/10-q...

In short:

- Apple is essentially Globalstar's largest customer, with over 50+% of revenue from them alone. All other segments are a drop in the hat in comparison.

- Apple was so far in bed with Globalstar that they actually got GSAT to drop an entire next generation product line instead for Apple's service needs.

On the second point -- Globalstar offered a "satellite hotspot" service called the Sat-Fi. The second-gen Sat-Fi had launched and only stayed in service for a couple years before it was killed with basically little to no warning or fanfare. Their "duplex" service offering still remains today, but with a very small amount of subscribers. (Duplex to them is their ancient satphones - voice and 'data' dialup calls at up to 9600 baud. They don't make Duplex hardware anymore and are winding out the Duplex service by increasing prices so as to force customers away. Current pricing is $100/mo for 120 minutes or $200/month for unlimited voice. It's a raw deal. Gen2 got us about 72kbps over the air, but RIP.)

More wild in the 10K is this gem -- Apple has up to 85% of Globalstar's total system capacity.

"We are the operator for certain satellite-enabled services offered by Apple Inc. ("Partner") (the “Services”) pursuant to the agreement (the “Service Agreement”) and certain related ancillary agreements (such agreements, together with the Service Agreement, the “Service Agreements”). The Service Agreements generally require us to allocate network capacity to support the Services, which launched in November 2022, and Partner to enable Band 53/n53 for use in cellular-enabled devices designated by Partner for use with the Services."

"We retain 15% of network capacity to support our existing and future Duplex, SPOT and IoT subscribers. This capacity can support a substantial increase in our own subscriber base, particularly following recent and planned investments in our space and ground segments. The retained satellite capacity can be used by us directly or through additional wholesale arrangements."

That duplex pricing sounds about the same as the Iridium pricing / speed when I last used it about 15 years ago.

Globalstar had some really rough system issues about 10 years ago when their constellation was dying. They were so desperate for Duplex users they had plans as cheap as $50/month unlimited everything - voice, SMS, and 9600 baud dialin data.

At this point it's very much a "we want to stop selling satellite voice services and just let IoT have the whole lot".

Will it work from airplanes?

If you get a signal .. I know I’ve seen my phone pick up a satellite signal occasionally, but not very often.

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