alt Hacker NewsDense areas get terrestrial towers as the do now. Non-dense areas fall back to satellite towers with no change in devices needed.
Dense areas get terrestrial towers as the do now. Non-dense areas fall back to satellite towers with no change in devices needed.
Definitely, and I think GP raises a valid point: Without beamforming, there’s no point in having more than one station covering the same area, whether terrestrial tower or satellite-based spot beam.
And while 4G and beyond use some mild device-side beamforming, it’s a whole different ballpark than parabolic antennas or phased arrays in terms of gain.