Does anyone have an Iridium Go yet?

[Can-Vik Cat]

I'm getting ready for Atlantic crossing from France in December. I will be purchasing and testing an Iridium Go real soon. I will report back how it performs ASAP.


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[Nili sy Vega]

That will be wonderful Can-Vik Cat..
So you are getting the unlimited data package?


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[Can-Vik Cat]

Yes definitely the unlimited package. I am fully aware the it is not broadband as we are accustomed to in our homes, but a lot of communication can be done via email and txt. According to advertisement it should be possible to send photos as well...

[Nili sy Vega]

Excellent! Looking forward to hear your review..


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[Feral Cement]

Originally Posted by zboss

If my scratch pad math is correct:

.....the maximum amount of data you could sent or received in a year (2400 baud 24/365) is about 19 gigabytes.

Time for a new scratch pad:

2500 (per second) times 60 sec/min times 60 min/hr times 24 hr/day times 365 days/yr = 2500 X 60 X 60 X 24 X 365 = ~79 gig/yr

But still slower than cold molasses.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Feral Cement

Time for a new scratch pad:

2500 (per second) times 60 sec/min times 60 min/hr times 24 hr/day times 365 days/yr = 2500 X 60 X 60 X 24 X 365 = ~79 gig/yr

But still slower than cold molasses.

Time for another scratchpad and a bit of education. 2.4Kbps is Kilo bits per second. which is about 250 bytes per second (theoretically 300 since there are 8 bits in a byte, but the overhead cuts is down a little).

SO 250 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 365 = ~ 8 GB per year

(Edit: It's worth noting that a 100KB GRIB file will take about 7 minutes at that rate)

[N3VR L8]

Something to keep in mind.. The GO works just like the phones when it comes to data.

What I mean by this, is they go by units.. not mb. This is because the GO initiates a data call to transfer data, so each minute is a unit.

On prepaid GO vouchers each data unit subtracts at half the value of a voice minute. So if you use strictly data on a 1000 unit voucher you in actuality get 2000 minutes of data call.

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[Can-Vik Cat]

I went back to the dealer today. I went there last week after calling to confirm the had one in stock....last week the salesman had "forgotten to charge" the unit. Today he fessed up that they were waiting for a demo Sim Card to arrive from Iridium. I have checked other dealers online, made phone calls to them etc. I must say that I am almost getting scared away from the Go. Everybody warns me about how slow it will be. Almost to the point that perhaps I should just buy an Iridium Extreme or 9555 Model. I'd like to check it out before I buy, so hopefully in a week they will have the demo card. I will keep youse posted.

[GMN]

Originally Posted by Can-Vik Cat

Everybody warns me about how slow it will be. Almost to the point that perhaps I should just buy an Iridium Extreme or 9555 Model. I'd like to check it out before I buy, so hopefully in a week they will have the demo card. I will keep youse posted.

Iridium GO! has the exact same data speeds as the Iridium Extreme and Iridium 9555 satellite phones. All of these devices run at 2.4 kbps - or 25 times slower than dial-up.

At these speeds you can do compression email and download weather files, but you definitely cannot surf the internet.

If you need something faster, you'll need to go with something like an Iridium Pilot or a FleetBroadband system.

[hoppy]

Maybe cruisersforum should create an app that can work with the Go so that members on an ocean passage can perhaps have a thread posting and discussing their journey as it happens

Could have added a new dimension to Boaties Atlantic crossing thread early in the year

[monte]

Actually to be able to email to post Nd receive replies via email would be very very handy for handling unforeseen problems or weather updates during a passages.


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[chala]

Originally Posted by StuM

(Edit: It's worth noting that a 100KB GRIB file will take about 7 minutes at that rate)

Plus the time it takes to make the request. Dial up is good for emails. For gribs, only if the send features is used (send grib:05S,20S,127E,152E|1,1|6,12..72|press,wind,wav es)
And if no other emails are waiting to be downloaded.

Otherwise the Internet connection at 8kbps is preferable. Time connection, ID check ( Ugrib allow or used to allow no more than two PC so if someone is using a new PC that Ugrib does not recognise then there is no download possible. Everything must be checked before departing.) and cueing which can take some time.

[chala]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Maybe cruisersforum should create an app that can work with the Go so that members on an ocean passage can perhaps have a thread posting and discussing their journey as it happens

There is no need of an app. The 8kbps connection will get you to Cruisers Forum. The time for a dial up to get into Cruisers Forum, log in, post a reply and refresh the page is 7 minutes. Adjust this time to 8kbps and deduct a little if using the Iridium “accelerator” but remember you need a fairly stable boat to get a satellite connection.

Missing from the previous reply:
Also to be checked with the Go is if a connection fee applies.

[chala]

Originally Posted by monte

Actually to be able to email to post Nd receive replies via email would be very very handy for handling unforeseen problems or weather updates during a passages.

This is interesting.

Originally Posted by travellerw

ZipProxy does a fantastic job or re-compressing images and generally streamlining the web pages.

Finally I use MIMEDefang for e-mail processing. MIMEDefang is an e-mail filtering tool. It isn't just a Yes/No filter, but can actually filter contents from messages. It has tons of options making it super flexible.

The idea would be to us my home PC as a repeater I would connect to it using Iridium Dial up and a software like PC Anywhere or better, down load or up load Emails from it and set a time on the PC to automatically send and receive Emails from my ISP.

[Feral Cement]

We are about to pull the trigger on a GO purchase. Current thinking is that for $1200 we can get most of the functionality of SSB GRIBS for a much smaller initial investment (maybe $3 - 5K for SSB?) and a fair number of pay-per weather reports even as we pay for the airtime.

I wonder - does Grib.US have a good Iridium compatible viewer? Other freeware that you might recommend? Or is the PredictWind app Basic package worth $19/year for enhanced features?

I can afford some weather-tech. I can't afford the wrong weather tech.

John