Inmarsat rate increase (again) on prepaid cards

[Phoenician]

Attention Sat Phone users;

I've just been informed by my Inmarsat reseller that the rates on prepaid cards are going up significantly, and that existing balances or contracts will not be grand-fathered under the new scheme

Among the announced changes is the halving of the 180 day validity down to 90 days for a 100 units recharge (cost = 129 Eur) while increasing the minimum purchase to 250 units (cost = 289 Euros) to get a 180 day validity.

My reseller is saying that Inmarsat are just aligning with Iridium's new policy, (not sure if this is true or not), nevertheless, the net impact of Inmarsat's new pricing scheme will certainly hurt small vessel owners who basically keep a sat phone for emergencies, without really consuming the airtime. They will now have to lay out a much greater amount of cash for that extra security.

Just wondering if we can some how make our voices heard and express our displeasure at Inmarsat for this rather egregious price hike

Thoughts anyone?

[derekbreth]

Now the small vessel plans have been discontinued by Inmarsat for new subscriptions, the starting price for Fleet Broadband is about $340 per month, up from about $60 per month. We fitted an FB250 and missed the deadline by a few weeks and now have a unit and no subscription since we cannot currently justify $340 per month. I have tried emailing Inmarsat in protest but just got told to contact a reseller.

[Matt Johnson]

The only reason I went Inmarsat is because of the cheaper rate for the isatphone. Seems we'll be switching to Iridium sooner than I thought.


Matt

Sent from my LG-V410 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Phoenician]

Originally Posted by derekbreth

Now the small vessel plans have been discontinued by Inmarsat for new subscriptions, the starting price for Fleet Broadband is about $340 per month, up from about $60 per month. We fitted an FB250 and missed the deadline by a few weeks and now have a unit and no subscription since we cannot currently justify $340 per month. I have tried emailing Inmarsat in protest but just got told to contact a reseller.

My reseller is helpless in this case. He told me that the new policy will hurt small vessel owners (the bulk of his business), and was very upset by Inmarsat's move.

For me there is no justification for Inmarsat's new policy, other than blatant price gouging, especially as the users of these small prepaid cards are, by definition, low "cost" (probably very low users of bandwidth)

I tried to find a tweet thread or some kind of forum where we could collectively express our protest to Insmarsat's egregious policy, but I must confess I'm not too social media savvy. Even the response in here has been very limited. Probably not too many Inmarsat users in Cruiser's Forum (?)

I hate the thought of letting these guys get away with it, especially as the Satellite Phone suppliers are an oligopoly. (Inmarsat are apparently just aligning their pricing with Iridium)

One other way might be to try and influence regulators? Can we get a Euro MP to ask a question to the commissioner in charge?

[LakeSuperior]

One other approach might be to get a group of the small users together to fund the launch and maintenance of a constellation of communication satellites. Then costs can be controlled and no-one would be blatantly price gouged. Shame on Inmarsat for charging what ever they want for their services.