Getting Grib from Sat Phone

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Don't rent a phone for this; rent an Iridium Go! For $139 per month you get unlimited internet (extremely slow, but plenty fast enough for GRIBs). Can also be used as a phone. Go! plus Sailmail or the proprietary Iridium email program via Saildocs is absolutely problem free GRIBs.


The Go! is cheap; you can even just buy one and then sell it when you're done (if you can stand to give it up).

This our current plan - seems like a great deal.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

Another option is UUPlus, an e-mail service designed specifically for e-mail over satellite. It isn't free, but you might save the monthly rate just in phone minutes.

You might also check with whomever is renting the phone, they may be able to provide UUPlus along with the phone. That and Saildocs and you're good to go.

That’s what we did on a few passages, with a 9505 phone connected directly to a laptop via RS232/USB cable and a UUPlus email account (guaranteed not to have any other mail messages). You also need an Iridium airtime account - we used prepaid for just the passages. Request a grib from Saildocs via email, receive it back a few minutes later (separate data call), then upload to OpenCPN and PredictWind Offshore App and any other grib viewer.

We used Mailasail’s Teleport IT service on our last passage. It does the same as UUPlus and has an easier interface.

The Iridium phone does calls and texts. For email you need to connect to a computer and have a service making a data call. Absolutely do not use a generic email service on your computer as it will gobble up airtime.

We’ve now sold our 9505 phone and have got an Iridium Go. Saildocs and Teleport IT and an airtime package and we’re set.

If you plan to use the Iridium service intermittently, such as for passages only, then buy a few spare SIM cards as that will be much cheaper than an ongoing subscription. Of course, you’ll want a local mobile SIM card for internet connectivity.

[jbinbi]

It is about a 6 to 14 days trip. I can rent a iridium 9505 for $7 a day and get the $50 airtime plan. I need to download a grib file every other day, if I just use a gmail account I never really use where there is no mail coming in except the saildoc file, I am sure I won't even come close to the $50. Total cost for airtime and the phone should be maybe $150.

I think this is the best option. If I was making this trip many times, a Go would make sense. For one time, not so much I think. Unless I am missing something.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

It is about a 6 to 14 days trip. I can rent a iridium 9505 for $7 a day and get the $50 airtime plan. I need to download a grib file every other day, if I just use a gmail account I never really use where there is no mail coming in except the saildoc file, I am sure I won't even come close to the $50. Total cost for airtime and the phone should be maybe $150.

I think this is the best option. If I was making this trip many times, a Go would make sense. For one time, not so much I think. Unless I am missing something.

With a 9505A phone and an email client that compressed the mail (UUPlus a few passages and teleport-it another couple of passages) each send / receive pair of emails to Saildocs for 4 days of medium resolution grib took about 10 minutes of data time. That includes connections dropping and other time wasters. We download gribs twice a day at about 12 hour intervals, but that’s because we were sailing in fairly volatile conditions. We had to spend quite bit more than $50 for 7 day passages. YMMV, but don’t underestimate the number of data minutes you will use and have a way to buy more time before you run out.

[jbinbi]

Thanks for those real world numbers! We will get a text each day with a forecast from someone on land, and get a grib on day 2 and day 4 if still out. On day 3 or 4 we will decide if we can do the journey in 6/7 days. If not, we head in to rest and re supply.

AT 6kts it is 6 days. So if we aren't going to be past past Hatteras on day 3, we head in. Great info from you guys for those making continuous long journeys. No reason not to get/rent a Sat phone if you can afford it. For the 4 of us, it works out to be about $10/day/person, short money for an emergency lifeline.

[jbinbi]

Well, the place I just called says that no one who rents phones offers the ability to get data on the plan, just call and texts? Anyone know if this is really true, or only bluecosmo.com. Was recommended I contact them to start with.

[hpeer]

Not sure.

Try these guys.

https://www.explorersatellite.com/

[wholybee]

If your intent is to get gribs, I will repeat what someone else said, get the Iridium Go!, not a Sat phone.

The Sat Phone is very difficult to set up if you are not savvy to the old way of setting up a dial up connection to the Internet. Plan an extra week and an extra $50 in air time to get it working. The Sat phone has a higher cost per minute for data. And the Sat phone does not include email; the Sat phone will require a Sailmail subscription for Email.

The Go! is comparatively very easy to set up (it's a wifi hotspot), has plans with bundled data, or an unlimited data plan, and includes email. The go also uses a firewall to block the windows background stuff, so (as long as you are using a iridium aware app) then only that app can use the connection, preventing the previously mentioned issue with windows and background data.

One issue though, the Iridium email only works with a tablet or phone, not a PC. So, you will need to work out how to get the grib from your phone to your PC, or use a grib viewer on the tablet. If you have an android device, saving the grib to an SD card is probably the easiest way to transfer the grib.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Well, the place I just called says that no one who rents phones offers the ability to get data on the plan, just call and texts? Anyone know if this is really true, or only bluecosmo.com. Was recommended I contact them to start with.

I know data works with bluecosmo if you get a SIM card for a phone you own, not sure how it would be different for a phone you rent. However, what might be the confusing part is that for a Sat Phone, data and voice are the same thing. You make a phone call to a modem, and connect just like you used to do with dial up, complete with the complicated Windows dial-up connection and modem strings and everything else. The plan doesn't include data as such, but you use your voice minutes.

With the Iridium GO, voice and data are treated differently from each other.

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by wholybee

If your intent is to get gribs, I will repeat what someone else said, get the Iridium Go!, not a Sat phone.

The Sat Phone is very difficult to set up if you are not savvy to the old way of setting up a dial up connection to the Internet. Plan an extra week and an extra $50 in air time to get it working. The Sat phone has a higher cost per minute for data. And the Sat phone does not include email; the Sat phone will require a Sailmail subscription for Email.

The Go! is comparatively very easy to set up (it's a wifi hotspot), has plans with bundled data, or an unlimited data plan, and includes email. The go also uses a firewall to block the windows background stuff, so (as long as you are using a iridium aware app) then only that app can use the connection, preventing the previously mentioned issue with windows and background data.

One issue though, the Iridium email only works with a tablet or phone, not a PC. So, you will need to work out how to get the grib from your phone to your PC, or use a grib viewer on the tablet. If you have an android device, saving the grib to an SD card is probably the easiest way to transfer the grib.

Thanks, but as stated, I am NOT buying a phone. I only need a phone for 7 days. That would cost me about $120 with a $50 talk/text plan.

I know about the Go. AFAI can see, it is not rentable, only purchases available.

I designed computers starting in 1978. I can setup dialups. I don't care about a higher cost per minute. I need to get 2, maybe 3 grib files during the entire trip.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Thanks, but as stated, I am NOT buying a phone. I only need a phone for 7 days. That would cost me about $120 with a $50 talk/text plan.



I know about the Go. AFAI can see, it is not rentable, only purchases available.



I designed computers starting in 1978. I can setup dialups. I don't care about a higher cost per minute. I need to get 2, maybe 3 grib files during the entire trip.

https://satellitephonestore.com/cata...iridium-go-252

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I know data works with bluecosmo if you get a SIM card for a phone you own, not sure how it would be different for a phone you rent. However, what might be the confusing part is that for a Sat Phone, data and voice are the same thing. You make a phone call to a modem, and connect just like you used to do with dial up, complete with the complicated Windows dial-up connection and modem strings and everything else. The plan doesn't include data as such, but you use your voice minutes.

With the Iridium GO, voice and data are treated differently from each other.

Thank you for the explanation. Maybe the guy at bluecosmo didn't know what he was talking about? Or maybe since you call a number for data, they just don't give you the numbers so you don't know what to call to get the data even though the phone is capable of it?

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

https://satellitephonestore.com/cata...iridium-go-252

great. I will contact them. Actually, since I want the data on the computer, it actually might be easier to use a regular sat phone? The GO connects to my phone, I don't want to be getting emails etc. I just want to get 1 grib file onto my computer. On my phone, I have 3 email accounts, as well as other apps that try to get data (too many to think of). When travelling internationally, I just turn off data if I don't want to use it via cellular, and when get to a hotel with wifi, turn it on then.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

great. I will contact them. Actually, since I want the data on the computer, it actually might be easier to use a regular sat phone? The GO connects to my phone, I don't want to be getting emails etc. I just want to get 1 grib file onto my computer. On my phone, I have 3 email accounts, as well as other apps that try to get data (too many to think of). When travelling internationally, I just turn off data if I don't want to use it via cellular, and when get to a hotel with wifi, turn it on then.

You should be able to define it as a metered network and then restrict what uses it. Can do that under Android anyway.

You could also buy a satt phone/Go and then resell when done with it...probably similar cost to renting. Also probably find used units on eBay etc.

I suspect the the Go will be easier to setup since that's its purpose. Its been years since I set up data over a satt phone, but it was a bit flakey back then...special cables, drivers, compatability issues, etc...

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by bstreep

This our current plan - seems like a great deal.

It really is. I used this for a whole summer in the Arctic and it was simply fantastic.


Of course you have to get used to the fact that it's not a real Internet connection. You can't exactly browse, and you can't send large file attachments with emails.


But 99% of what you want to do can be done with plain text, and the Go! is brilliant for that.


Also if you REALLY need something off a WWW page, there is a way to do it. You can request a page through SailDocs, and it will send you a stripped down and compressed version of it. There is also an ultra low bandwidth brower with the Iridium software, but I found that the SailDocs system worked better.


And GRIBs are no problem.