Iridium Go - is it really a good deal?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

It is in my experience. P4 is 10k+ bps while Iridium is 2.4 kbps. In the real world P4 is about twice as fast, not the 4X the specs would indicate. Both use essentially the same data compression.

You are counting throughput from the time you get an ideal connection.


There are three problems with that:


1. Connections are very often, probably usually, not ideal
2. You can't always get any connection at all, much less an ideal one, so you have to wait.
3. You are missing in your calculation all the overhead of figuring out the right frequency and making the connection, most often with a few failed attempts and necessity to wait.

Originally Posted by Auspicious

A lot of work? In Airmail touch F6 to open the terminal window. Touch F8 to open the propagation model. Go for the green. No work at all. It certainly helps to understand basic propagation. It's simple: check email mornings over coffee and just before dinner in both cases over grayline. If you're in really high latitudes (really high, not Cowes) drop back to PII.

I am at 62N as I write this and will be at 70N in a couple of weeks.


But email over coffee and before dinner is exactly what I'm talking about -- not everyone can do it on a schedule or wait around for the right conditions. I get a lot of weather info (I like human produced weather forecasts) using SailDocs, via email. Sometime I need it NOW, or at least, not waiting until dinner for it, ESPECIALLY when local twilight doesn't line up with the issue schedule for whatever resource I'm after. I think many others will be similar.

Originally Posted by Auspicious

If you are willing to pay for what you can get for free that's fine. I let the WEFAX fun over night and review the images while I'm doing email in the morning.

I don't pay for Wefax over Iridium (I have an unlimited data plan).


I also get this on the SSB but it is a minor PITA to work out the broadcast schedule and set up a computer to be ready to receive it. IMHO this is a poor substitute for a proper Wefax printer, like that Furuno one, which I don't have on this boat. Next best thing to that is to get by satellite.

[alphabravo2]

Dockhead, please let me know which company provides your unlimited for $135 as I am now looking at a new provider. Thanks

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by john61ct

That's really what I want to clarify.

As a poor liveaboard I have no interest in spending $130+ every month except maybe when specifically making a long passage offshore, or caught in a big storm area by mistake, certainly not year round.

I don't mind investing in gear in order to lower average monthly cost.

So, sticking within Iridium for now, and ignoring Next vaporware

The 95x5 handsets are going very cheap, but I greatly prefer generic WiFi connectivity from any screen device, rather than anything more complex tied to just a PC.

So I was resigned to spending $550+ for a Go!

Until I read here that the not-unlimited data rates are more expensive than with the 95x5 handsets.

But if there are workarounds to get Go! convenience at (more) reasonable per-MB pricing, ideally pre-pay PAYG with unused MB carry-over, please let me know.

Or given the above, what do you all recommend?

I've made the case for Iridium Go! And I and other posters laid out the advantages.


But for a "poor liveaboard", especially for one without a lot of business correspondence to do, especially if you're not doing that many long passages and/or remote areas, I would recommend a good used SSB radio and good used Pactor modem and a ham radio license.


If your business correspondence can wait until you have a normal mobile phone connection, then the running costs of that will be $0. Somewhat less efficient to use, and you have to sign up to SailMail to do any business correspondence, but with patience you can do almost anything the Iridium can do, plus some things the Iridium can't do, and if you have time to play with it, you can have tons of fun with it, too.


I myself will burn my Iridium SIM card when I get back to Cowes in September. I love it for what I'm doing now, but I won't need it when I'm back in coastal/liveaboard mode.


The Iridium is awesome on the unlimited data plan, but rapidly loses its advantages when you pay per data call. I don't think I would want it without the unlimited data plan.

[livbysea]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I already have a sat phone antenna installed, how do I find out if it’s compatible? I went to the Satphone store site, but couldn’t find the monthly unlimited plan for $139 which is what I want. Can I use it for four months then go inactive for five, then reactivate for six?

Hi

Don't know about compatibility - but you can get service and disconnect. You need to get extra sim cards when you sign up. You can drop service and reactivate for $50.00 (which is less than several months when not in use) but you get a new phone number.


cheers
livbysea

[jalmberg]

“If you are willing to pay for what you can get for free that's fine. I let the WEFAX fun over night and review the images while I'm doing email in the morning.”

Not everyone has that much electricity to burn. If I left my SSB and LAptop on all night my bats would be dead by morning.

Go + iPad is very energy efficient.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by alphabravo2

Dockhead, please let me know which company provides your unlimited for $135 as I am now looking at a new provider. Thanks

I'm using Satphonestore.


They have been good to deal with.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I would recommend a good used SSB radio and good used Pactor modem and a ham radio license.
…
I myself will burn my Iridium SIM card when I get back to Cowes in September. I love it for what I'm doing now, but I won't need it when I'm back in coastal/liveaboard mode.

The Iridium is awesome on the unlimited data plan, but rapidly loses its advantages when you pay per data call. I don't think I would want it without the unlimited data plan.

Thanks for that.

My actual question - taking Iridium as given - stands

wrt the different plan options, between the handset option vs Go! etc

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by jalmberg

“If you are willing to pay for what you can get for free that's fine. I let the WEFAX fun over night and review the images while I'm doing email in the morning.”

Not everyone has that much electricity to burn. If I left my SSB and LAptop on all night my bats would be dead by morning.

Go + iPad is very energy efficient.

Yah, that's a good point.


SSB on receive doesn't use much power, but leaving a laptop running all night with sleep mode disabled is a problem for most.


I have an ultra low power fanless Atom powered fixed mount computer which I use for this kind of thing. Turn the monitor off and it uses very little power indeed. Mine runs 24/7 anyway to log weather, network data, wind, etc.



So just in case someone wants a power efficient way to do this.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

You are counting throughput from the time you get an ideal connection.

I just seem to have a whole less trouble than you do.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I am at 62N as I write this and will be at 70N in a couple of weeks.

Where the heck are you going? Tromso?

Originally Posted by Dockhead

But email over coffee and before dinner is exactly what I'm talking about -- not everyone can do it on a schedule or wait around for the right conditions. I get a lot of weather info (I like human produced weather forecasts) using SailDocs, via email.

I greatly prefer meteorologist value-added as well. I don't know anyone that updates the product more than twice a day. I pick them up when they are available and save them to look at when I want.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I also get this on the SSB but it is a minor PITA to work out the broadcast schedule and set up a computer to be ready to receive it. IMHO this is a poor substitute for a proper Wefax printer, like that Furuno one, which I don't have on this boat. Next best thing to that is to get by satellite.

You'll want this then http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/marine/rfax.pdf


The problem with the Furuno receiver is keeping thermal paper in stock.

Originally Posted by jalmberg

Not everyone has that much electricity to burn. If I left my SSB and LAptop on all night my bats would be dead by morning.

12 - 15 Ah / day for an Icom 802 and a laptop that never turns off but lets the display go black.

[Dockhead]

[QUOTE=Auspicious;2667702]I just seem to have a whole less trouble than you do.
/QUOTE]


If you only do it at twilight, then you don't. Waiting for the right conditions qualifies as "trouble" in my book.


Don't get me wrong -- I'm an Extra Class ham and enjoy playing with radios -- when I have time for it.


I love having HF on board.





[QUOTE=Auspicious;2667702]Where the heck are you going? Tromso?

Scorseby Sund, Northeastern Greenland! A bit further N than Tromso and a heck of a lot more remote.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

If you only do it at twilight, then you don't. Waiting for the right conditions qualifies as "trouble" in my book.

So the question is do I do email at 0715 and 1830 because the propagation is good or because I'm lucky? *sigh* I've been doing this so long I don't know myself. Note that the good marine nets on ham bands and marine are all during gray line anyway for the same propagation reasons so the pattern is easy to get into.

Pattern may be part of it. I get up to review weather fax that came in overnight in the morning - whatever came in from Boston or Northwood, sometimes New Orleans and occasionally Pt Reyes. Crew write email overnight around their watches and I send/receive email in time for the 0800 watch change and breakfast. 12-4 watchstander may not get up but everyone else gets a weather brief, and changes to the plan ("standing orders" *grin*). People get notice of inbound email for them at the same time. I may check into a net depending on where I am. During the day crew write email around their schedules. I lather, rinse, repeat (American colloquialism) during dinner prep with daytime wefax, email, etc.

If I want to do more weather analysis I just look at the saved wefax from the last cycle. Downloading it again doesn't make it any newer.

Do you keep track of the forecasters? I do. Depending on who did the forecast I may get more insight into tomorrow from yesterday's 48 than today's 24. Newer is not always better.

Comparisons are also helpful. If Monday's 96, Wednesday's 48, and Thursday's 24 are markedly different then conditions are unstable and I will pay more attention to the 500s to see what is driving things. If I can't make sense of it I send email to some people ashore I trust. One or two of those names might be familiar to you. *grin*

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Scorseby Sund, Northeastern Greenland! A bit further N than Tromso and a heck of a lot more remote.

Scoresby Sund is certainly remote, and colder than Tromso for all of being only about 30 nm North. Gulf Stream and all that. Hope your diesel heater is perking.

[Safari38LH]

We spent last year in the Bahamas and are very glad we had a GO and the unlimited monthly plan for around $120. We received gribs, weather faxes, Chris Parker and other weather data using SailDocs. We also published our WordPress blog daily via the GO. Contrary to what some say, cell availability is not available everywhere. Some places we were one of the few boats with current weather info. We also liked the fact, that no matter where we were, our family could always get ahold of us in an emergency. Great product!

[Pitchondesign]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

The NEXT design was completed in 2010, the satellites were built starting in 2014, and launched starting 18 months ago. Unconscionable that the ground-based hardware sold in that period isn't future proofed. Instead "For small, portable devices, we won’t be introducing Iridium NEXT enhanced services until the network is fully deployed in the late 2017 [No news, they're late] timeframe." That's what you get with what is essentially a monopoly.

Iridium Next satellites will offer, in addition to the existing systems, something called Certus, which is much faster and more expensive, and the reason the new satellites were launched. A Certus marine station is $7000 to $8000, and the least expensive plan is $129 per month with no data. Data is $16.50 per MB and voice is $0.60 per minute. The plans go up to $2,600 per month including 10GB at speeds up to 256kb. No word on whether the GO plan pricing is affected. My speculation is GO will remain unchanged.

Looks like Certus is aimed at the marine megayacht crowd. Cruisers are way down on the list.

[Time Traveler]

I can get WeFax on the iPad using the HF and software by Black Cat, and every thing else on the Go via Sailmail. Several of you have mentioned as a fact receiving WeFax on Go but i’ve not been able to figure out how to do that. Could someone point to a source or method for WeFax on the Go?

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by Time Traveler

I can get WeFax on the iPad using the HF and software by Black Cat, and every thing else on the Go via Sailmail. Several of you have mentioned as a fact receiving WeFax on Go but i’ve not been able to figure out how to do that. Could someone point to a source or method for WeFax on the Go?

If you have/use Sailmail just go to the SailDocs window and request the fax(es) you want and they'll be sent by e-mail as attachments (Catalogs->Saildocs->Images->Fax). Way (way, way) easier than trying to receive them as broadcast. As an example, an e-mail to "query" (sorry, just won't post full e-mail addresses here, especially ones critical to so many people) that says "Send pyba01.tif" will get you the most recent Surface Analysis, NE Pacific.

If you don't have SailMail you can try MailASail or a couple of other sources that provide the same service.

[Edit]

Or you can get them from the various met. service websites, but that usually takes more data than getting them e-mailed.

[/Edit]