Does anyone have an Iridium Go yet?

[simonpickard]

So I'm about to order a GO.
For the unit plus 1000mins of data over 365 days it's going to cost about £1100 all in.

Only real question I still have, and can't for the life of me find an answer to, is how the thing receives calls.
If it has to be wifi connected to your smartphone how does that work if you get a call when you're not connected?



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[GMN]

Originally Posted by simonpickard

So I'm about to order a GO.
For the unit plus 1000mins of data over 365 days it's going to cost about £1100 all in.

Only real question I still have, and can't for the life of me find an answer to, is how the thing receives calls.
If it has to be wifi connected to your smartphone how does that work if you get a call when you're not connected?

Hi Simon,

If the Iridium GO! is on, but you're not WiFi-connected to it, it will make a beep to alert you that a call or a SMS has come in. The SMS will come through on your phone once you WiFi connect to the GO! again, but you will have no way of knowing who called you unless they leave a voicemail.

Voicemails stay in your Iridium mailbox for 8 days before they are automatically deleted. If you connect the Iridium GO! to the Iridium network within 8 days those voicemails will download to the GO! and you can then retrieve them by WiFi-connecting your smartphone to the GO! To my knowledge, the voicemails don't auto-delete off the Iridium GO! (if you haven't WiFi-connected your smartphone to the GO! in a long time) but presumably there's some sort of maximum space allotted to storing those, so I wouldn't let them build up indefinitely.

Just so you know - the Iridium GO! prepaid 1000 minute data card that is being advertised by many resellers is a maximum of 1000 minutes of data. If you use that card exclusively for voice calls you would get 500 minutes and if you used it exclusively for data you would have 1000 minutes, but you can mix those up (and end up with less than 1000 minutes of data). Sometimes it's not clear how that works, so just wanted you to be aware

[simonpickard]

Thanks. Yep that makes sense.
Should have mine in a few weeks so will report back how she works.



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[Nili sy Vega]

Hello all,

We are considering the Iridium GO as a back up for Pactor via SSB to receive grib files. I have been reading the forums and as far as I understand the "unlimited" data is ONLY for the data transfers within the Iridium GO application; i.e. texting and twittering, right?

To receive the grib files I have to use the Iridium Mail & Web application which will be billed as extra data minutes to my monthly bill.

Is that correct?


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[chala]

Originally Posted by monte

Simon when we tried to download gribs without compression it didn't work. The reason being the satellites move very fast and the window for connecting can be quite short, maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Downloading a grib can take 5 minutes with compression and quite a bit longer without. If it doesn't download it may have to start again and keep trying.

Originally Posted by chala

With the right method, a 4kb Grib file from Ugrib may take up to 2 minutes to down load on an 8kbps Internet connection.

A 10kb every 6 hours 4 days prsl only grib file that represent the whole of Australia can be down loaded in 1 min 16 sec of connected time.
A 4kb every 3 hours 3 days wind only grib file that represent the next 3 days navigation area can be down loaded in around the same time and can be as low 51 sec of connected time.
To achieve this short time it is important to exit any background programs and most important to exit the antivirus software.

Originally Posted by simonpickard

I don't agree with the tablet comment. At sea (which is where we'd be using the GO) an iPad is way more powerful for comms and nav I find. It's also vastly more user friendly

For the region I sail, I like to be able to analyse the wind predictions for every 3 hours at 4 knots. If an Ipad can offer that type of definition why not. Definitely a laptop does it and better.

[Kenomac]

Simon,

Please report back on your results with the GO after you get it. I'd be interested if the thing works.

Ken

[bgallinger]

Their web site says it will connect to smartphones, tablets AND laptops. The only downside I see is the slow speeds but that is to be upgraded in time.

Iridium GO!™ is unlike anything the world has seen before. Powered by the world's furthest reaching network, this compact, rugged and portable unit creates the first ever reliable global connection for voice and data communications on up to five different devices (smartphones, laptops or tablets).

[simonpickard]

"To receive the grib files I have to use the Iridium Mail & Web application which will be billed as extra data minutes to my monthly bill."

I hope not. I would have thought data is data.
I haven't read anywhere that data outside of the apps is chargeable.

However, if you just want it as a backup why would you pay for the expensive unlimited plans?



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[simonpickard]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Simon,

Please report back on your results with the GO after you get it. I'd be interested if the thing works.

Ken

Will do! I'm picking it up in Gibraltar, just have to get there first. Some big thunderstorms in the way between there and Sardina.



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[Nili sy Vega]

Originally Posted by simonpickard

"To receive the grib files I have to use the Iridium Mail & Web application which will be billed as extra data minutes to my monthly bill."

I hope not. I would have thought data is data.
I haven't read anywhere that data outside of the apps is chargeable.

However, if you just want it as a backup why would you pay for the expensive unlimited plans?



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I got a quote from a dealer, the price list says; the unlimited data is only for Iridium GO Data (via Access Number 88160000330) which I suspect the data through the Iridium GO application only. To receive emails you have to use the Iridium Mail & Web application which I believe connects using your sim card number, hence billed extra. I understand from the website, you can also connect your laptop to the Iridium GO device, again with the Mail & Web application but, this is also extra data charged to your monthly bill.

Anyways, if all this data was really unlimited, don't you think it's too good to be true?

The reason I would want the unlimited plan, if it was really unlimited of course, is exactly because it's a back up for the SSB. In case the SSB stops working and we start using the Iridium GO when crossing, I wouldn't want to run out of units and got disconnected from the world. I would take the unlimited plan for a month, just for the crossing, for $125-145, and then throw away the sim card. Then buy another one when I need again. So, the unlimited plan would not be expensive at all.

On the other hand, if you get the prepaid plan, you pay about $900 for 30000 units and the charge is 30 units per minute. Let's say you connect once a day for ten minutes (300 units per day). Then your units will finish in 100 days, in about 3 months. So, your monthly expense will be $300/month for a 10 minute per day connection, which is uncomparable to $125/month for unlimited data.


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[simonpickard]

The unlimited plan is for a minimum of 12 months from what I understand.

I'll ask my dealer about the data question. Sounds crazy if you can't use your mins to get email and Gribs.



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[simonpickard]

Also. In terms of unlimited data.. At 2.5kps how much can you actually use? Even 24/7 it's only a few meg per day?



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[Nili sy Vega]

"You are only tied into the contract for a minimum one month, so you can cancel at any point with 30 days’ notice in writing."

This is from my dealer..

And in terms of the prepaid data.. How long your $900 will last? Not even one day, only 16 hours! In which you can only download 17 mbs..




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[simonpickard]

Sounds interesting.

So you'd buy an unlimited sim. Then cancel after one month and pay just for that month.
Then when needed do the same again for another month.

I'll have to look into that. I guess it depends if I use the unlimited for more months than the pre paid amount.

In terms of data I don't really care as I wouldn't be using it for anything over simple emails + weather. I can't imagine me downloading 16megs of compressed Gribs.





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[Nili sy Vega]

I sent an email to my dealer to clear the situation; if the unlimited data is only for the data transfers via Iridium GO application or not. If I get a positive reply to this, then there is no point in getting the unlimited plan of course. How many text messages and tweets you can send per day!?

Then I will look at other options. I see something like 0 (zero) minutes for $56. I probably will take that one and only pay for the amount I will use during the crossing.


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