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SpaceX has published a new webpage<\/a> to promote its upcoming \u201cStarlink Direct to Cell\u201d service that plans to offer cellular connectivity to \u201cexisting LTE phones\u201d via satellite. The website, which PCMag <\/em>reports<\/a> went live earlier this week, notes that the service will initially be limited to texting services in 2024, with voice and data functionality following in 2025, alongside support for IoT devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cDirect to Cell works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky. No changes to hardware, firmware, or special apps are required, providing seamless access to text, voice, and data,\u201d SpaceX\u2019s website reads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Elon Musk-owned space company announced plans for the service last year<\/a> alongside US partner T-Mobile. The service is likely to be relatively slow by terrestrial standards, with speeds estimated at between two and four megabits per second, but its benefit will be in the breadth of coverage. T-Mobile\u2019s press release from last year<\/a> says the service will be available \u201cpractically everywhere in the continental US, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, Puerto Rico and territorial waters, even outside the signal of T-Mobile\u2019s network.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Satellite connectivity has been a growing trend for smartphones in recent years. Apple added an Emergency SOS feature<\/a> to its phones last year that allows iPhone 14 devices and newer to send limited messages and location information via satellite in emergency situations. Meanwhile AT&T-backed cellular satellite company AST SpaceMobile announced it had placed the first satellite call over 5G<\/a> from an unmodified smartphone last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n