Sattelite Communication

[melsep]

I spent two years cruising recently and had an Iridium Phone for downloading grib files and txting, calling home. I am technically challenged and had a lot of trouble getting it to connect for weather downloads. It would use up a lot of data just to tell me that it couldnt find satelites.
We are heading off around the pacific next year and want to get something a bit better. At boat shows i have seen cradles that use smart phones as Sat phones, wifi units and a whole range of companies providing hardware and data plans.
We want to be able to easily download grib files as well as do some emailing with apple devices, but dont want to spend more than we have to to achieve it.
Would be keen to hear from anyone out there who is using a great system and how it works for them.

[Paul L]

Check the Google search in the menu. You will find many threads on this subject.