Tesla cars about to have direct Starlink connection

Interesting development for Tesla car owners is coming from Starlink. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, confirmed that Starlink signed an agreement with T-Mobile to offer mobile coverage pretty much everywhere. The new service offered by T-Mobile will be called Coverage Above and Beyond.

The new service will allow a mobile connection in the most remote areas of the US and its territorial waters. Cell phones will connect directly to satellites thanks to a new network broadcast from Starlink 2nd generation satellites and using T-Mobile’s underutilized 5G “mid-band PCS” spectrum.

Starlink V2, launching next year, will transmit direct to mobile phones, eliminating dead zones worldwide

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2022

Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla vehicles will be able to use this new service, meaning the cars will effectively have a direct connection to Starlink. Don’t expect to be streaming Netflix somewhere in a remote part of Alaska though, initially the connection speed will be between 2 and 4 Mb to allow for essential services - voice and text.

2nd generation Starlink satellites are scheduled for first launches in 2023 and both companies expect the service to launch later the same year. T-Mobile will likely offer this service to its customers without extra charge.

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2022

Gen 2 Starlink satellites are much bigger than the current (V1.5) ones - in fact they are over 4 times heavier but will offer magnitude higher throughput, they are expected to provide between 140 to 160 Gbps which is almost 10 times more than Gen 1.

With Starlink creating a new cellular network using T-Mobile’s spectrum, it will be eventually possible for all Tesla cars to connect directly to the Internet, without having to use AT&T service as it’s done at the moment.

For now the new service will offer cellular connection in areas where there was no technical possibility to offer it. Initially slow and only meant for basic services, once the Gen 2 satellites replace the quickly aging V1.5 we will have a truly complete network coverage.

Starlink wants to have 30,000 V2 satellites circling our planet which would provide us with a total bandwidth of around 1,250 terabits per second. To put that number in perspective, the total bandwidth of global Internet infrastructure in 2020 was estimated at 600 terabits per second.

Always connected cars will offer a safer driving environment, network coverage without any “not-spots” will mean uninterrupted communications in emergency situations. It will mean as well, finally being able to watch your favorite Netflix show from the top of Denali if that’s your thing.

T-Mobile and SpaceX put up an official event to explain the new service, here's the fairly long video that offers all the information about it:

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