After a series of service outages among operators, satellite messaging in Android 15 could bring stability

What do you want to know

• Last week, Google News and Verizon joined a growing list of critical services that faced widespread outages in 2024.
• Both services are back up and running, but Verizon’s outage specifically left users unable to communicate for hours.
• These issues call into question the reliability of websites and email services, but satellite connectivity could help.

It doesn’t seem like it, but we’re almost halfway through 2024. So far, it hasn’t been a good year for critical digital infrastructure services. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon suffered major outages, Google News was briefly down, and iMessage also became unavailable at several points throughout the year. Service outages are inevitable, but we’ve seen some larger ones that could have had far-reaching consequences.

Most recently, Google News/Discover and Verizon experienced service outages late last week due to unrelated incidents. Overall, Google News being down for a few hours probably isn’t that big of a deal. The same can’t be said for other service outages we’ve seen so far this year. The Verizon issue caused thousands of users in several states to lose connectivity from the evening of Thursday, May 30 until midday on Friday, May 31.

In a statement to USA today, the company explained the situation. “Some customers, primarily in the Midwest and Western states, experienced service interruption for several hours yesterday,” a Verizon spokesperson said May 31. “Our engineers worked quickly to resolve the issue and service was restored at 3 a.m. PT. Any customers still experiencing issues should restart their phone.

Verizon’s support team has responded to several user complaints on social media and said that most outages are resolved within 48 hours. The company took much less time to resolve the issue this time around, but it shouldn’t downplay the scary nature of the situation. Simply not being able to communicate with others for a few minutes, or even a few hours, could have disastrous consequences. This is especially true in the Midwest and Western states, where the Verizon outage occurred, because people are more likely to live in rural areas where a cell phone might be the only way to get service. help in case of emergency.

Verizon was the affected carrier last week, but something like this could happen to any of the wireless carriers. In fact, AT&T experienced an even bigger incident in February, when more than 73,000 users lost service. Add to that the iMessage outage – although it’s less serious because SMS and MMS messages can be used as a backup – and you have a scary pattern developing.

It reminds us that the messaging services and cellular networks we rely on every day, as well as those used in life-and-death situations, are far from invincible. However, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Android 15 is all but confirmed to support satellite messaging, and this could be the solution to the outage problem of 2024.

Why are so many services experiencing outages?

First, it’s important to note that we don’t know all the details of the major outages that occurred this year. AT&T said its service issue in February stemmed from “the application and execution of an incorrect process used during our network expansion, not a cyberattack.” Although Verizon acknowledged last week’s outage, it referred to it only as a “service interruption” and did not provide further information.

Apple’s iMessage service went down on May 16 between 5:39 p.m. ET and 6:35 p.m. ET, according to the company’s services status page. Apple also didn’t give up much, saying only that “some users were affected” and that “users were unable to use this service.”

Likewise, last week’s Google News outage was resolved fairly quickly, but Google didn’t specify what went wrong.

This series of outages probably happened within a few months by mere coincidence. These are all independent incidents and breakdowns occur occasionally. However, given the importance of these services, it is more alarming that they all experienced major issues at different points in 2024.

How Satellite Messaging in Android 15 Can Help You

It’s pretty scary to think that if you needed help during a Verizon or AT&T outage, your means of connecting to first responders or family members might be limited. This is where satellite messaging could come into play. Android 15 will add the feature, allowing users on supported plans to message anyone via satellite. This feature won’t do anything to prevent outages, but it could give users another way to reach people if a cellular network or messaging service goes down.

We don’t know all the details on how Android 15 will integrate satellite messaging, but based on what we know about how other phones and devices use satellite connectivity, it’s likely that satellite messaging satellite will be useful in the event of a service outage. Satellite services use direct cell connections, meaning they operate outside of a carrier’s typical tower network. T-Mobile, for example, would partner with Starlink to provide satellite messaging. So if the T-Mobile network goes down, users may still be able to communicate via Starlink satellites.

Apple’s implementation of Emergency SOS via satellite is further proof of the usefulness of satellite messaging in emergencies. This iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 feature allows these phones to connect to Globalstar’s satellite network, completely bypassing your carrier’s network. If an iPhone 14 or 15 user loses cellular connectivity due to an outage, they can still use Emergency SOS via satellite to contact help.

The Android 15 version of the feature could be even more useful. Obviously, Android users will be able to use satellite messaging any time Wi-Fi or cellular isn’t available, not just in an emergency. This would more useful in the event of a network outage.

Satellite could be the future of connectivity, beyond simple messaging

If anything, these service outages should put the spotlight on satellite as the future of connectivity. Starlink is doing amazing things, and it goes way beyond satellite messaging on Android 15. It has brought high-speed internet to virtually everywhere on earth – and in the sky, via planes, as well as on the sea, via ships. Things will only get better from here on out and massive outages could be a thing of the past.