We hope that you will never find yourself in a position where you need to send an emergency SMS, but it’s good to know that more phones and carriers out there are supporting it. The good news is that if you’re living in Europe, and if you own a Google Pixel 9 or Pixel 10, those devices will support satellite texting .
Google Pixel phones will support satellite texting in Europe
Orange France has announced that it will offer direct-to-device satellite texting to customers in Europe if they’re using either the Google Pixel 9 or Pixel 10 smartphone. This announcement also makes Orange the first European operator to offer such a service. Orange will use Skylo’s technology which works with Google’s newer Pixel phones.
For now, it will be limited to the Pixel 9 and Pixel 10, and to Orange’s 5G and 5G+ customers who live in mainland France. Users, if they need to, can send and receive SMS messages via satellite. They will also be able to share their geolocation. This will come in handy during emergencies where mobile or WiFi coverage is unavailable.
The good news is that for now, the service is free. Orange is making it free for the first six months. However, customers who wish to retain the satellite texting capabilities will have to fork out €5 a month. This service will go live on December 11, 2025.
Some things to consider
That being said, before you get too excited, note that there are some things you should consider. For starters, Skylo’s satellite service works via GEO satellites, or geostationary satellites. What does this mean? It means that these satellites are positioned about 36,000km above the Earth.
As a result of their further distance from Earth, the latency is higher, with estimates around 500-600ms. This isn’t too bad normally, but for more advanced applications that require a faster internet connection, then this might not be a good thing. This is versus other satellite services like Starlink , which use Low Earth Orbit satellites.
These types of satellites sit 160 to 2,000km above Earth. They also offer considerably lower latency, around 6-30ms. However, like we said, chances are you will probably use this feature in emergencies. It’s not as if you’re playing games or streaming video where latency matters more.
