TerreStar Makes Its First Phone Call
Jul 20, 2009, 2:20 PM by Eric M. Zeman
TerreStar announced that it recently completed the first set of phone calls using its new TerreStar-1 satellite and land-based cellular/satellite hybrid phones. TerreStar launched a satellite earlier this year, which recently reached its geosynchronous orbit and deployed its arms. TerreStar and its technology partners will offer hybrid satellite-cellular phones that use land-based cellular networks for voice and data calls when the network is present, but can seamlessly hand-off to TerreStar's satellite communications system if/when the cellular network is not available. TerreStar has Windows Mobile-based smartphones for the system that are relative in size and shape to their cellular-only cousins. TerreStar also received certification for its operations by the FCC.
Comments
So much for the cell phone alibi....