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monte · 12-09-2014, 01:19

Gj , I mentioned earlier in this thread our experience with the axcesspoint. Have a quick read of you are interested http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...il-127525.html It does handle compression and there is no need for subscription services such as xgate. I would assume the GO works the same way

**Ex-Calif** · 12-09-2014, 07:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by monte

Gj , I mentioned earlier in this thread our experience with the axcesspoint. Have a quick read of you are interested http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...il-127525.html It does handle compression and there is no need for subscription services such as xgate. I would assume the GO works the same way

I like your setup because the phone can go in the ditch bag.

I have been thinking about whether it's a good idea to have 4 iPhones and a laptop hooked up to a satphone server. Sounds like a recipe to get a $5,000 SatPhone bill...

**GMN** · 12-09-2014, 07:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by monte

Gj , I mentioned earlier in this thread our experience with the axcesspoint. Have a quick read of you are interested http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...il-127525.html It does handle compression and there is no need for subscription services such as xgate. I would assume the GO works the same way

Just a quick note to clarify a couple of points on how AxcessPoint Mail & Web works in comparison to Iridium Mail & Web:

AxcessPoint works with smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.
Iridium Mail & Web (the Iridium GO! free email software) only works with smartphones and tablets.
AxcessPoint Mail & Web will not work with the Iridium GO!.
But Iridium Mail & Web will work with AxcessPoint.
If you want to use your laptop with your Iridium GO! you'll have to use XGate (or a branded version of XGate), which is currently the only third-party email service authorized to work with the Iridium GO! XGate works on smartphones, tablets, and computers (both Mac and PC).

Hope that clarifies things. Iridium is likely going to retire the AxcessPoint iOS and Android apps shortly and new AxcessPoint users from here on out will need to download the Iridium Mail & Web apps in order to use their smartphones and tablets with the AxcessPoint (Mac and Windows versions will still be available).

monte · 12-09-2014, 08:14

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting that they don't allow the GO to connect with a PC. Not that it's essential as emails and gribs can be downloaded to iPad then transferred to PC.
As far as pricing plans, we have heard $135/m unlimited data, as well as standard minute/sim plans. Are both an option and does the $135 include any voice calls?

N3VR L8 · 12-09-2014, 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by monte

Gj , I mentioned earlier in this thread our experience with the axcesspoint. Have a quick read of you are interested http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...il-127525.html It does handle compression and there is no need for subscription services such as xgate. I would assume the GO works the same way

This is correct.

For those of you wondering about the mail/web side there is an additional app -- Iridium mail & web app on the app store.

**GMN** · 12-09-2014, 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by monte

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting that they don't allow the GO to connect with a PC. Not that it's essential as emails and gribs can be downloaded to iPad then transferred to PC.
As far as pricing plans, we have heard $135/m unlimited data, as well as standard minute/sim plans. Are both an option and does the $135 include any voice calls?

None of the Iridium GO! postpaid plans (the Unlimited plan is the highest-usage option) include voice minutes. Voice minutes are charged extra at around $1.17 a minute. Many providers also have a 12-month contract for Iridium postpaid accounts like the GO! Unlimited plan.

If you're needing more seasonal airtime and would also like voice wrapped up into what you pay for, you might want to check out the prepaid options for the GO!. There are two prepaid cards that have double-data minutes: the 200 and 500 minute cards. This means that if you used the 500 minute card exclusively for data you'd have 1000 minutes. The nice thing, though, is that you can use it for a mix of voice and data. Data just gets deducted at half the rate of voice.

On our site, these cards retail for $518 and $720 respectively. You can see them here.

Of course, with prepaid you get the downsides of validity periods and running out of minutes. None of which you have to worry about if you have an Unlimited plan (or any postpaid plan, really). On the other hand, if you end up talking for 3 hours a day on a postpaid plan your airtime bill is going to be very, very painful at the end of the month.

simonpickard · 12-09-2014, 12:17

Seems weird that there's no links to laptops with the GO. That must be something they are working on?

The same apps will hopefully be ported over to the Mac App Store.

As I already have two iPhones and an iPad on board the GO makes sense to me. All of them will be thrown in the ditch bag and I have a solar charger to keep everything going.

Please visit my blog:
www.sailing-interlude.com

monte · 12-09-2014, 13:03

Thanks GMN, that explains a lot. Hopefully the standard phone SIMs will follow with half price minutes as well.

Sea Frog · 12-09-2014, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMN

None of the Iridium GO! postpaid plans (the Unlimited plan is the highest-usage option) include voice minutes. Voice minutes are charged extra at around $1.17 a minute.

Hmmm... This is from the Predict Wind site:

What is the cost of voice calls?
The GO Surf & GO Unlimited plans include 5 mins of calling time per month. If you exceed the 5 minute allowance the cost is US$1.29 per minute.

Is there a plan with more voice minutes included?
Yes, you can get the GO Unlimited Plus plan which costs US$199 per month, which includes 100 mins of calling time per month. If you exceed the 100 mins allowance the cost is US$0.99 per minute. However, to justify upgrading to this plan from the GO Unlimited plan, you would need to make in excess of 55 more minutes of voice calling each month.

**GMN** · 12-09-2014, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea Frog

Hmmm... This is from the Predict Wind site:

What is the cost of voice calls?
The GO Surf & GO Unlimited plans include 5 mins of calling time per month. If you exceed the 5 minute allowance the cost is US$1.29 per minute.

Is there a plan with more voice minutes included?
Yes, you can get the GO Unlimited Plus plan which costs US$199 per month, which includes 100 mins of calling time per month. If you exceed the 100 mins allowance the cost is US$0.99 per minute. However, to justify upgrading to this plan from the GO Unlimited plan, you would need to make in excess of 55 more minutes of voice calling each month.

It depends on the satellite dealer how they're going to package what Iridium has made available. We prefer to keep it simple and as close to the original plans as possible, but I don't doubt that there are different options out there.

If prepackaged minutes are really important to your GO! usage, I'm sure you can work with a satellite dealer one on one to come up with a plan, as any Iridium GO! plan that includes minutes is something created by the dealer, not Iridium.

gjorgensen · 12-09-2014, 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonpickard

Seems weird that there's no links to laptops

Actually, the way I read GMN's comments are what I was thinking originally: You can use a regular PC with the GO!, but you get nothing beyond a raw IP link to the internet without compression or any higher level services bundled. You can then grab email over that as you would on the net, but you'd want a 3rd party compression service to make it usable.

Allowing only XGate is pretty limiting because it essentially cuts off those wanting to use SailMail for both Pactor and Iridium, but it does give you a compressed email platform to use on a PC.

As an aside, I don't get the love affair companies are having with jumping with on the tablet bandwagon while downgrading support for traditional platforms. Sure tablets are handy. But a PC is a vastly more versatile, flexible, and powerful platform for core navigation and communication. I totally get making an easy-to-use tablet app/system suite, but I don't get downgrading traditional PC support along the way.

simonpickard · 13-09-2014, 01:10

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.

That's a debate for another thread though.

What I'm wondering is if you have unlimited data who really cares about compression? Just leave it running and use regular services.

Please visit my blog:
www.sailing-interlude.com

monte · 13-09-2014, 01:23

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.
Xgate manages that by remembering the amount downloaded and completing the download next time a connection is available. I don't know if the GO will do the same, but I would think if you are just using the iPad it shouldn't be a problem.
The best plan option for me would be the 500 minute, 12 month option which gives ample data and voice calls for $720/year, as opposed to $1620 per year for the unlimited plan