How Does a Satellite Phone Work?
Satellite phones as their name suggests rely on near-earth satellites instead of fixed masts. Satellite phone coverage is not disrupted by hills, buildings and trees blocking signals. The only limitation on a satellite phone is a clear view of the sky. Globalstar, one of the big players in the satellite phone market, provides voice and data services to their handsets via a constellation of 48 satellites and a further four in orbit back up satellites. This permits a call to be simultaneously transmitted by several satellites to an Earth base station for routing through the land-based telephone infrastructure. Some satellites remain in a fixed position hundreds of miles above the earth and provide a ‘footprint’ of coverage. Other companies, though, use orbiting satellites that travel at over 16,000 miles per hour and circle the globe in less than two hours. When a call is received by a satellite, it relays the voice or data back to earth. Depending on the satellite’s position at the time
