Iridium Has a Mysterious New Satellite Comms Service

[ojas]

People interested in astronomy probably do remember Iridium every time they spot an "iridium flare"

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]dalethepcman[/nom]I can't imagine this would do very well in the consumer space. Consumers phones are becoming more about data and less about voice, and knowing what I know of hardware built 25 years ago, these satellites could in no way handle 2-5 million iphone / android users. They might be able to handle 2 million phone only users, but with a true capacity of closer to 80k simultaneous users I would expect a lot of busy signals.[/citation]

you know, a sat phone, you could be in the middle of nowhere, the top of everest, and still get signals. try saying that about your iphone.

if i want a phone i want to get it for a phone, not a mobile internet service.
and that said, the only place i would want a phone is in the car, incase i ever get stranded in the middle of nowhere.