I’m not alone in thinking that T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon might have finally met their match

Slow day?

Competition is good.

I remember when cellular started, everyone said "oh, you'll never match MaBell"

Landlines are pretty much a thing of the past (traditional copper lines).

The only real drawback with satellite phone service would be inside buildings,

tunnels etc.

Lol, I'd like an alternative but anything other than something touched by Musk. That's a hard no. Plus he's a liar. Everything is hyperbole.

Let's be honest. NOT ONE of Musk's predictions from the last decade has come true. Not one. Throw your money at Musk if you're part of the cult, but you'll have better luck with a pass yellow Trump phone than waiting for a Space X network.

Hopefully it won't be like HughesNet as they're crap and even treat you home Wi-Fi like a mobile data plan with data caps and terrible customer service. Well I know that Space X is trying to become the 4th major carrier and the data cap don't apply cause they're a mobile carrier and not a home internet service provider. That's where their Starlink comes into play and I know that's better than HughesNet both in terms of data speeds and customer service.

What I'm hopeful for is that when they enter the mobile carrier segment that it will drive innovation from the original top 3 only time will tell.

Each of the three major carriers has about 300 MHz of spectrum. Starlink has a quarter of that and its signal level is less than one bar. Pass.

As a retired cellular engineer, I have difficulty seeing a profitable business model, as well as, good signal coverage indoors or heavy trees. Launching satellites is expensive, and because they must use low Earth orbit due to delay constraints, they will have to continuously replace satellites as they fall to Earth. We'll see.