Or maybe you find yourself in an emergency and help is not on the way. Either way, the ability to connect if you need to has its merits.

On January 8th, 2024, using Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capabilities and via T-Mobile's network spectrum, Elon Musk's company was able to send and receive its very first text message from Earth to space and back with a regular, run-of-the-mill smartphone.

Now China has that same technology, but maybe even a little bit better.

For the last two years, China Telecom, Huawei, and several other industry partners have been working on the Tiantong satellite project, including overcoming the challenges of maintaining stable cellular connections with weak signals. By integrating satellite antennas into mobile phones and merging communication protocols, researchers succeeded in creating the world's first smartphone capable of making direct satellite calls.

The team from the China Telecom Satellite Application Technology Research Institute (referred to as "Satellite Institute") was able to unify the satellite and ground networks into a system that could use existing SIM cards and phone numbers.

As early as August 2023, Huawei had integrated the technology – more antennas configured for L-band – for direct sat-to-cell capabilities. Smartphone makers Xiaomi and Linyun have followed suit.

"Smartphone satellite calls work by first uploading data to the Tiantong satellite, which relays it to a ground station. The ground station processes the data and sends it to the Tiantong core network, which connects to ground base stations to reach the target phone," explained Wang Deqian, a researcher at the Satellite Institute and a team member.

There are three functioning Tiantong satellites, with a fourth expected this year. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake – which registered 7.9 on the Richter Scale – destroyed over 5 million buildings, knocking out all communication infrastructure near the epicenter. This was the event that led to China's development of the Tiantong project as a way to maintain communication, even during disasters.

At the time of writing, Starlink's website regarding direct-to-cell capabilities says "Voice – coming soon."

The technologies utilized by China's Tiantong and Elon's Starlink are quite different.

The Tiantong satellites are all in geostationary orbit about 22,000 miles (36,000 km) above Earth, meaning they stay in a fixed spot. Because of this, a single satellite can cover huge swaths of ground. Entire countries and regions.