Satphone

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===Equipment===
===Equipment===
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Here's an Iridium / Inmarsat dealer in Australia: http://www.tc.com.au/
===Call / Data Plans===
===Call / Data Plans===

Revision as of 09:49, 9 November 2007

Contents

SATPHONES (and others)

Satellite phones offer various services, including internet connectivity and voice communication, over one or more satellite networks.

Description

One of the issues with satellite technology is that you have to purchase two separate components, often from different service providers. These are:

  • Phone, modem, and/or other hardware, from a satellite phone or equipment retailer.
  • Telephone talk time, broadband data, or other services from a satellite service provider.

Comparatively, satellite phones for voice usage are cheaper than HF radio sets, and satellite communication gear to connect to, say, a laptop PC for internet connectivity is cheaper than a Pactor-style HF modem, however satellite data charges are much more expensive than sending your data over HF.

Service Providers

To be a satellite service provider, a company needs to have one or more satellites orbiting the planet. Obviously, that's not a cheap business to get into, and so world-wide there aren't many of them. The main service providers are:

  • Inmarsat
  • Iridium

There are a few other regional satellite service providers, such as:

  • Globalstar (AU/NZ)

Equipment

Here's an Iridium / Inmarsat dealer in Australia: http://www.tc.com.au/

Call / Data Plans

Inmarsat

Inmarsat home page: http://www.inmarsat.com/

Fleet Broadband

In November 2007, Inmarsat is launching a service known as Fleet Broadband. Details are here: http://www.inmarsat.com/Services/Maritime/FleetBroadband/default.aspx?language=EN&textonly=False

These have a dedicated terminal. The base package (FB250) will offer internet connectivity up to 284kbps with an antenna 25cm in diameter. The package is sold through a world-wide network of agents.

Don't seem to have prices anywhere.

Iridium

Iridium home page: http://www.iridium.com/

Don't seem to have prices anywhere.

Globalstar

The Globalstar packages can be fairly clearly seen on this page:

http://www.globalstar.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=198&Itemid=572

The Globalstar phones are combined CDMA/Satellite phones (caveat: CDMA is being phased out in Australia, and so you may be best off waiting for a combined G3/Satellite service) or combined GSM/Satellite phones (however GSM has a much lower coverage than CDMA or NextG), and there are various plans for voice, data, and both. Voice and data are routed over the CDMA network in sight of land or a CDMA tower, and over satellite while at sea.

A sample plan is the Gstar/99 plan, which costs $99/month. You get $74 worth of calls at 30c per 30 sec, with a 40c per call flagfall (cheaper inside GSM range). Incoming calls are free -- charged to the caller.

References

Publications, etc.

Forum Discussions

Links to discussions on the CruiserLog Forum

External Links

Links to relative websites

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