Two standard LTE modules connected
Fibocom says its LE270-EU and LE271-GL LTE Cat.1 bis modules registered on the SpaceX Direct to Cell network and transferred data in New Zealand. Its November 8 report says the tests used standard firmware without satellite-specific hardware changes.
Sky visibility changed the results
With good sky visibility outdoors and in vehicles, Fibocom measured about 2.2 Mbps downloads on LE270-EU and 2.0 Mbps on LE271-GL. Both uploaded at around 0.3 Mbps.
In some hotel-room tests with obstructed sky visibility, downloads fell to about 0.5 Mbps. These are the manufacturer’s measurements under its test conditions.
The battery trade-off
Uploading the same file over satellite used about 1.5 to 1.8 times the energy of a terrestrial cellular transfer. That is a transfer-energy comparison, not a claim that total battery life falls by the same factor.
For tracker and sensor designs, the results make reporting intervals and retry behaviour relevant to the power budget. Network access and performance still require validation for each deployment.
