Inmarsat vs Iridium for a Budget Cruiser

[scotte]

We're on the waiting list for an isatphone pro, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have one. Even though the phone is new, the BGAN network has been around for awhile. The price point on the phone and service could really change things for the sat phone industry.

Here's how the plan lines up in US$:
Phone - $600
Service - $15/month or $150/year
Voice to PSTN - $0.85/minute (15 second increment)
Voice to mobile - $1.07/minute
Text-SMS, Text-to-Email - $0.49/message (160 characters)
Inbound text free from inmarsat webpage

No word yet on data prices when it's available in the spring. While this will be handy, the Text-to-Email feature allows sending position report/message to anyone via email (the phone has a built-in GPS).

[matrix]

Some great first-hand info there, thanks a lot! Sounds like getting on the waiting list might not be a bad call, how long have you been waiting?

Do you have any speculation as to what the data costs will be? It all seems pretty hush hush right now, without any hints out there that I could find, at least.

I assume it will be somewhat close to the voice price-point, but it would be a bummer to get locked into it and then have the data plan turn out to be less than stellar in terms of performance and/or cost-prohibitive...but based on those stats you posted, it all looks pretty reasonable, and as you say, a potential game changer for the industry in terms of pricing...

[rebel heart]

I've been checking out the isatphone as well. For $55 a month that's 45 minutes of air time (including data transfer / email / calling / etc), and then you pay through the nose for anything more than that.

Satellitephonestore.com - Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro Satellite telephone.

[barnakiel]

Inmarsat if on the budget except if in polar regions.

b.

[goboatingnow]

Iridium is better for a pure voice plus low speed data. You can get plans around $ 1 a minute irrespective of total time used

Dave

[Mundinho]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I've been checking out the isatphone as well. For $55 a month that's 45 minutes of air time (including data transfer / email / calling / etc), and then you pay through the nose for anything more than that.

Satellitephonestore.com - Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro Satellite telephone.

Let me know if you find some new info. Looking at the Isat phone as well, need to have something on board by July 2011. Want to use is same as Matrix for occasional call + weather data (grib + fax) download. I understood around this time they would activate the data connection, so I guess we have to wait some time for feedabck on that. If ok the pricing really seems better then Iridium.

[NoRush]

Hi, looking to get a sat ph, Inmarsat looks good. Voice & text look OK but what about connected to a laptop to recieve weather emails. The agent muttered about "9 kb per second"??? I think meaning it's slow but would it be OK to recieve a synoptic chart (made into a small file by a friend ashore)?
Agent also mentioned a gps function - how accurate is this? Good enough for a rescue?
Cheers
NoRush

[LakeSuperior]

You may be better off downloading gribs. That way you aren't dependent on a friend as the friend may be busy when you really want the weather.

[NoRush]

Hi, it is in fact gribs I had in mind. Do you have any experience of connecting the phone to laptop to download?
And are there not services who will send special text messages with weather info for a particular area?
Cheers

[AntiqueTri]

Looking at the web site, I get the impression you need a docking station at $500-$1200 to get the usb data port funtionality. Anyone actually have one of these units and know how well this really works? Is it terribly slow, meaning expensive in time used?
We will also have HF radio, so will skip it if it requires a docking station, as it will be free on the radio. The rest of the package looks really good. I was about to get globalstar and eat the reliability issues, but this should do nicely. We don't chat on the phone a lot and mostly just want to be available if someone needs to contact us(my son living in my house, aged parents, etc).

New blog @ http://hotsaucefun.blogspot.com/

[PamlicoTraveler]

I am struggling with the Iridium Inmarsat decision. Seems difficult to quantify unless you have actually tried both, so any reviews of the systems is much appreciated.

I have tried OCENS Weathernet via a 3 day trial, and it seems really good. Downloads very compressed files that work great in their grib explorer which you can also try.

[LakeSuperior]

Search this forum and you will find extensive, recent discussions on Iridium cost, reliability, compression software services, and downloading grib files. The grib services are free.

[chala]

Originally Posted by TEE

drops calls or doesn't go through.

If rolling but in calmer condition small grib are no problem and SMS are free from sender.

[holmek]

No , No, Cruisers, You can't use the words Inmarsat, Iridium and Budget in the same sentence. Cruising is about "simplicity". Now there's a word use can use along with Budget. !

[chala]

Just a budgeted luxury, simple to use so very “cruiser” and could be as useful than a liferaft.