Iridium

[Gisle]

I'm planning to buy an Iridium sat.phone.

Any experiences for using such a phone for data-connection and text-based e-mail?

Is it free to send 120 character messages BOTH ways?

[maui]

I have no experience with sat phones but I have noticed Iridium, Globestar, etc. are a bit pricey still. I am very interested in the experience other people have had with them. I do believe one day sat phones will be capable of providing full Internet service at an affordable price. When we set sail I will start out using Winlink for HAM radio most likely. It is rather slow but it is free. Just my thoughts on the subject.
Dave

[lastresort]

we used a Globalstar phone on a 2 month Alaska trip last year and were fairly happy with it,although expensive.Sending e-mails seemed to be alot faster than recieving them.
We leased the phone for 2 months,it came with an extra battery,charger(12v and 110)and the software for connecting the modem.had 60 mins month useage for $200.00 per month.
Leaving to go cruising next spring and planning on doing the ssb/ham option as sat phones are still way to expensive.

[maui]

Ran across this comparison chart, maybe it will be of some help.
www.MarineComputer.com

Dave

[Quincofish]

Originally posted by maui
I have no experience with sat phones but I have noticed Iridium, Globestar, etc. are a bit pricey still. I am very interested in the experience other people have had with them. I do believe one day sat phones will be capable of providing full Internet service at an affordable price. When we set sail I will start out using Winlink for HAM radio most likely. It is rather slow but it is free. Just my thoughts on the subject.
Dave

Is Winlink for HAM radio free? What about connect fees, traffic fees etc?

David.

[maui]

David,

Using HAM radio and Winlink is free, proper license of course. You have to have a Pactor modem, which are a bit pricy.Check out SCS PTC-IIpro, about $900. The web link mentioned www.MarineComputer.com is very good for comparison. I plan on going this route also, so this is all a learning curve(or game?).
I hope this helps.
Dave

[John Drake]

I am outfitting my boat from scratch and am looking at email/net capability. The SSB/pactor modem method, while offering free air time seems to be too expensive an investment up front for too little return (slow email and no web). [again, I am starting from scratch].

The plan I am developing is: a NAV-FAX 200 receive only ssb and sat phone. The Nav-Fax is cheap and I would be able to listen in on cruiser nets, weather and get WeFax (via an easy connection to the RS-232 port on my notebook computer). Connecting a sat phone to a notebook is easy and the phones are becoming quite a bit less expensive. The cable to connect the phone to the computer is nothing (I currently do this with a cell phone and the notebook). While air time is not free, you can much faster download, bigger emails and you can connect to the web. To me, this is quite important as it will be my only way to maintain finances...and likely communicate on forums such as this, which I find most enjoyable.

Thus, by my calculation, the up front on a new SSB, modem, antenna, antenna tuner, installation....is coming close to $3000.

A Nax-Fax ($300) and sat phone ($400) is looking like $700 up front. At that point, you would have your choice of competitive air plans/pricing for service...which at last look was quite a bit less than $100/mo. Perhaps even $50/mo.

At any rate, just my thoughts for now. Would be interested in what others are doing. Not having a send capability via SSB is limiting, but I am really not sure this is critical and most people chat locally via VHF?

My best to all

John
S/V Invictus

[tenknots]

A friend is using globalstar in the Caribbean, Spent $500 on the phone and gets 200 minutes of time for $50/month. Uses it mostly for email but can surf slowly. Occaisonally loses the signal during a call. Sound quality is great.