Space X Trojan Horsed their way into the cell phone industry thru T Mobile originally with their direct to satellite messaging for “emergencies” when cell phone service was unavailable. A few days ago, T Mobile quietly removed any reference to Space X btw, but still offers the service per contractual agreement.

Space X is now turning satellite receivers into small cell phone towers and will be paying people who invest in the upgraded units to provide coverage to others. Soon, Tesla cars are going to be built with satellite receivers that do the same thing.

And then they will be a cell phone company. And the Big 3 carriers are shaking lol. The fierce competitors are still dismissing Musks plans as fantasy, but they are also making all sorts of deals with each other that would have been unfathomable a few months ago. And all 3 are investing in a low earth orbit satellite competitor to Space X that is trying to get going, while at the same time publicly claiming Space X ideas for LEO cell phone coverage will never work…

Interesting times. Musk now owns $19 billion worth of wireless spectrum he bought from EchoStar (Dish) and is ready to put it to use.

While slow moving corporations mull how to react, no doubt the mind of Elon is multiple steps ahead. They will probably invest billions into a bunch of individual ideas to counter him while never achieving the integration or synthesis his plans will have going for them.

Amazon, Space X’s top competitor in LEO satellites has struggled to get a few hundred satellites up, while Elon has over 11,000 in place already.

Interesting times for sure.

https://youtu.be/ANUw_QMdLhE?si=bwws1NTJ9Rb8lwiH

And for people interested in space and/or tech, here’s the story of any earlier satellite network, Iridium, and Motorola spent $5 billion on it to and lost 99.5% that value.

More interesting, how that network actually became instrumental in myriad ways and is still being used by millions today.

A really fascinating story. Low earth orbit it sat phone service from the 1990’s… I think many people had no idea how close we were even then.

https://youtu.be/ub0Q_GJ2zaA?si=BXtV8waSfUw7CUzx

Data centers in space by 2030. No electric or cooling costs. The dude is smart.

(10-05-2026 11:30 PM)Todor Wrote:  Space X Trojan Horsed their way into the cell phone industry thru T Mobile originally with their direct to satellite messaging for “emergencies” when cell phone service was unavailable. A few days ago, T Mobile quietly removed any reference to Space X btw, but still offers the service per contractual agreement.

Space X is now turning satellite receivers into small cell phone towers and will be paying people who invest in the upgraded units to provide coverage to others. Soon, Tesla cars are going to be built with satellite receivers that do the same thing.

And then they will be a cell phone company. And the Big 3 carriers are shaking lol. The fierce competitors are still dismissing Musks plans as fantasy, but they are also making all sorts of deals with each other that would have been unfathomable a few months ago. And all 3 are investing in a low earth orbit satellite competitor to Space X that is trying to get going, while at the same time publicly claiming Space X ideas for LEO cell phone coverage will never work…

Interesting times. Musk now owns $19 billion worth of wireless spectrum he bought from EchoStar (Dish) and is ready to put it to use.

While slow moving corporations mull how to react, no doubt the mind of Elon is multiple steps ahead. They will probably invest billions into a bunch of individual ideas to counter him while never achieving the integration or synthesis his plans will have going for them.

Amazon, Space X’s top competitor in LEO satellites has struggled to get a few hundred satellites up, while Elon has over 11,000 in place already.

Interesting times for sure.

https://youtu.be/ANUw_QMdLhE?si=bwws1NTJ9Rb8lwiH

He's about to get a lot more into orbit. Last monday, starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 new V3 starlink satellites, each with a terabit of bandwidth. Starship is progressing so well now that spacex is about to phase out its falcon 9's, which currently launch about every other day to put starlinks into orbit, in favor of starship. As soon as they start catching starships and their boosters (should happen on the next flight) they will likely migrate completely off of the falcon 9 (which launches the much smaller V2 mini satellites) in favor of starship launching the large 1 terabit V3 satellites.

Good news. I'm sure people will find something to hate about this.

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Tech sites are talking about lot about Space X becoming a wireless carrier.

This article says what customers think about switching to it. Because ultimately, that is what makes or breaks the idea.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/t-mobile...e_id183864

(10-06-2026 01:38 AM)banker Wrote:  Data centers in space by 2030. No electric or cooling costs. The dude is smart.

okay, so if you put data centers in space, how easy is it going to be for enemies and/or nefarious actors to destroy them? Then what happens to the data and services they were providing? The vulnerability of basing so much of societies' infrastructure on data centers seems striking.

(10-06-2026 09:49 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(10-06-2026 01:38 AM)banker Wrote:  Data centers in space by 2030. No electric or cooling costs. The dude is smart.

okay, so if you put data centers in space, how easy is it going to be for enemies and/or nefarious actors to destroy them? Then what happens to the data and services they were providing? The vulnerability of basing so much of societies' infrastructure on data centers seems striking.

Elon has already thought of that and has the problem solved.

He will get paid first, and if there is a problem later, the public will be responsible for paying to fix it all.

Private profit, public responsibility.

I like Elon Musk. But if anyone thinks any billionaire is going to use their own money to fix things when they go wrong, think again.

It becomes the public’s problem as soon as the check clears.

Didnt any of you watch the movie, Congo? Communication is the future...

This article is one that makes me want to root for a Space X mobile network success. The people tearing the idea apart are so smug and cocky about it.

“This ranks as one of the top three dumbest ideas in my four decades of being in this industry," said Earl Lum, the founder of analyst company EJL Wireless Research”

Ouch. He may be right, or he may be wrong. I don’t know. He may just hate Elon Musk. Or he may be an expert in all things wireless that I knows a lot of things few outside that industry really know. I have no way to tell.

Some others cited in the article have questions, some are more optimistic regarding the talent within Space X to innovate solutions.

However, for those that know something about wireless, most of this criticism launched at him is about small cell, or femtocell service that would be provided by Starlink receivers. They would be like wireless hotspots for cell phones in the surrounding area. Apart from that, the idea is that people’s phones would be on a direct satellite connection

That would be fine for small groups and individuals in rural areas as it would provide good indoor coverage that a satellite to phone connection cannot provide. So if he is planning a mobile service aimed mostly at his own Starlink customers who are overwhelmingly in rural areas, I can see it working well for the roughly 3 million subscribers that fit that description. In cities, I see validity in the criticisms. Perhaps existing Starlink customers and customers in rural areas are all that will be marketed to- at first.

And that’s what excites me. He has a viable plan to get at least some mobile customers at launch (if that happens), but it’s fun to think about what innovative solutions may be lying in wait for when the kinks are worked out or a never seen before technical solution emerges and proves these “analysts” wrong. He may have a different type of network in the works apart from everything being discussed.

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/small-ce...won-t-work

Although I am the epitome of the ideal customer for Starlink service, I have stuck with the less than ideal solution I have for now. It was slow to be rolled out to my locale and I lost some interest in it over that time. It also sucks power at a high rate, which I really don’t want as a solar user.

https://satnews.com/2026/10/09/spacex-ac...e-carrier/

Elon called this 800 mhz spectrum the final piece of the puzzle for his nascent wireless service.

The best part is, until August this belonged to T-Mobile. They acquired some of it thru their multiple acquisitions, including Sprint and USCellular. It wasn’t very useful to them because their networks are based primarily on other frequencies.

T-Mobile basically swapped this spectrum for spectrum they can make better use of us. It was owned by a private equity group as a mostly speculative investment.

Shockingly, that group gave up their $2.9 billion worth 600 mhz spectrum for this 800 mhz, and 58 days later sold it for $8 billion to Space X. Not a bad 2 months.

T mobile owned it, but few buyers wanted it. The fact that it was sold by them, even indirectly, to Space X is so poetic.

Check out what happened to TMobile, ATT, and Verizon stocks the next day…

“Verizon shares ended up logging their weakest single-day performance in 24 years, while the stock drops for AT&T and T-Mobile were the steepest in roughly 26 years and 13 years, respectively, according to Dow Jones Market Data.”

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketw...cex-threat

Most of 2026 wireless executives have continually trashed Elon Musk and Space X plans to enter the wireless market. Statement after statement about all that’s wrong with the plan, why it wont ever work, listing all the technical limits they think it has ad naseum.
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/art...02806.html

October 2, AT&T CEO says none of Musks plans are viable, while signing a deal to start their own low earth orbit satellite service along with Verizon and Tmonile.
https://www.techradar.com/phones/network...st-in-case

October 8, Space X snags even more spectrum, this time from TMobile.

October 9, TMobile Chief Technical Officer says- “If this is truly the beginning of a new wireless provider in America, we welcome competition. It's good for innovation, good for the industry, and most importantly, good for customers,”
https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/...ion-spacex

October 9, Verizon Chief Network Engineer announces he’s leaving.
https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/...rs-company

Watching smug execs in one of the greediest and most hated industries get smacked around by a true innovator is making me really happy.

Those same guys saw their companies stock price take it up the butt yesterday, too. Tmobile wast down over 13%.

Interesting article about one of the Big 3 legacy communications companies. Verizon was considered the gold standard for many years. They maintained a great image in the public eye and were long able to charge slightly premium prices for their services.

But it was largely a fake image. And that’s why Space X/Starlink Mobile is such a threat to them. While providing better customer service and a strong network is great and all, they couldn’t actually make money doing it.

Despite still paying $12 billion a year in dividends to keep investors from dumping them, Verizon is carrying $165 billion in debt. They are definitely walking a tight rope, and the entry of a new carrier into the market may be enough to end them.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/starlink...n_id184014

ATT is not far behind, as they are still saddled with around $150 billion in debt. Their purchase of Direct TV and attempt to pivot to becoming a media company were disastrous and costly.

https://www.financecharts.com/stocks/T/b...total-debt

Darling of the public these last 6 years or so, they bought Sprint and rapidly built out their 5G network, while adding tens of millions of customers. Well, that was also costly, and they have $120 billion in debt for answer to for all that growth. Before the spending spree, debt was only around $30 billion.

https://companiesmarketcap.com/t-mobile-us/total-debt/

Who is running these companies? They overpaid trying to buy out all of their competitors and merge themselves into mega corporations and still can’t make enough money to even pay for the spectrum and towers needed to actually run a network? Terrible management.

They collectively have half a trillion in debt, have driven themselves into price wars for the clout of saying they have more customers, and are collectively making very little profit.

No wonder people hate them. They all deserve to go out of business.

Today Elon said the plans for Starlink Mobile are “too big to discuss on an earnings call” when asked about it.

How much of that is hyperbole, or maybe just the complexity of the issue is unknown. But he isn’t known for thinking small.

Some are speculating it won’t be geared toward being a consumer service at all and may be for robotics, internet of things, or other commercial uses primarily. Time will tell.

But personally, I believe there will definitely be a consumer aspect to it, even if it’s much more than that.

Either way, anything that hamstrings and puts pressure on legacy telcos is good in my book. They suck.

“I think we probably should do a longer presentation on the game plan for Starlink connectivity and why we think it will ultimately be a business that generates several hundred billion dollars in revenue a year because you are missing some of the pieces that we know about internally,” he said.

“We definitely need to explain this in detail. Veterans of the cellular industry look at the chess board of existing pieces and don’t see a solution.

They don’t understand that SpaceX is developing entirely new pieces that fundamentally alter the strategic landscape.”

Tempting sounding description, for sure…

https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/...nings-call

(10-06-2026 09:49 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  

(10-06-2026 01:38 AM)banker Wrote:  Data centers in space by 2030. No electric or cooling costs. The dude is smart.

okay, so if you put data centers in space, how easy is it going to be for enemies and/or nefarious actors to destroy them? Then what happens to the data and services they were providing? The vulnerability of basing so much of societies' infrastructure on data centers seems striking.

Any terrorist or two can blow up a data center sitting in the middle of Iowa. They can attack the building or just the grid that services it. At least in space it would require the equipment and expertise only a handful of state actors possess and you would know exactly where the attack came from.

SpaceX may evolve into a publicly owned mobile provider.



Thread
https://csnbbs.com/thread-1034772-post-2...id20826519

Off topic, just a general comment on space...if you look at deep space photos of earth, and see all the satellites currently circling the earth, it's a miracle some don't crash into each other and cause a bit of havoc when they fall.

The other mind blowing thing is that earth is estimated to be orbiting around our galaxy's center of mass at just under 67K mph, and all of it is moving through space at about 1.4 MILLION mph...

Where are we going in such a damn hurry, and when do we run out of room?

(10-27-2026 06:10 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Off topic, just a general comment on space...if you look at deep space photos of earth, and see all the satellites currently circling the earth, it's a miracle some don't crash into each other and cause a bit of havoc when they fall.

The other mind blowing thing is that earth is estimated to be orbiting around our galaxy's center of mass at just under 67K mph, and all of it is moving through space at about 1.4 MILLION mph...

Where are we going in such a damn hurry, and when do we run out of room?

I've thought of that but then remembered space is a HUGE place. I've read that when Adromeda and the Milky Way eventually collide; stars will not hit each other given the vastness of space. It's mindboggling, imo.