Communication

[Calmerto215]

Hi I am about to cruise from of up thru SE Asia and further. Obviously communication with family is important and I have heard soooooooo much about sat phones and their high cost as well as there expensive plans. Surely there is a product that utilises your GPS to send limited messages or is that just to simple. Looking forward to any reply. Toddy

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by Calmerto215

Hi I am about to cruise from of up thru SE Asia and further. Obviously communication with family is important and I have heard soooooooo much about sat phones and their high cost as well as there expensive plans. Surely there is a product that utilises your GPS to send limited messages or is that just to simple. Looking forward to any reply. Toddy

GPS is a receive only system for positioning. No civilian GPS system contains any provision to transmit without piggybacking on some other technology.

If you are coastal, cellular or wifi is typically the cheapest method if it's available.

As for satellite, Iridium Go is one of the cheaper satellite communication methods for really, really low bandwidth. I believe it's around $800 for equipment and $1 per minute for voice depending on the plan. Unlimited SMS text is normally found on plans at around $80 per month and higher.

[StuM]

Take a look at the Garmin Inreach.



inReach Satellite Communicator - 2-Way Messaging & SOS - HOME

[HopCar]

I second the Inreach. A friend of mine crossed the Atlantic, toured Europe, came back across, went through the Canal and up the West coast to California. All this in a single engine 42 ft trawler. I could check his location any time and we had no trouble sending text messages the whole time.