Why Not Use Satellite Phones Instead Of Smart Phones?

Smartphones are downright essential for modern life, but they weren't the first mobile phones on the market. Satellite phones (i.e., phones that send calls by communicating with Low Earth Orbit satellites) beat the first cell phones to the punch.

However, satellite phones have all but died out, and it's not just because you can use apps such as Apple TV and Nintendo Music on Android phones.

On paper, satellite phones sound more efficient. Normal smartphones route communications through entire networks of cables and cell towers, whereas satellite phones only need to bounce conversations off satellites.

However, while satellite phones indeed cut out the middleman, any call through them is prone to lag since even the closest satellites they use are thousands of miles away. Furthermore, each call is expensive. Sure, US$ 50 for an unlimited phone plan sounds like a lot, but that's US$ 50 for all your phone calls, messaging, and web browsing for a whole month. By comparison, a call on a satellite phone costs US$ 2 per minute on average, which is too expensive for most users.

The disadvantages don't stop there. While smartphones have become so small and thin that you can fit them into your pocket, satellite phones need to be large and bulky. Otherwise, their antennae (yes, they still use antennae) would be too weak to communicate with satellites.

And the icing on the cake? Satellite phones are actually illegal in some places. You can use a smartphone to call people while on vacation in, say, Cuba, but satellite phones are prohibited there.