Iridium Go Data Download

[In The Mood]

I am considering an Iridium Go to facilitate up to date weather when out of VHF range. Can anyone tell me if all data downloads are charged to the minute or are there smaller increments? Does anyone know what size GRIB file can be downloaded in a minute?

thanks

[Moo]

Charging depends to a certain extent on your provider, I think.

Iridium charge out in 6 second increments but many reseller charge by the whole minute or part thereof.

With a good signal on Iridium you can sometimes download a 25k GRIB in a minute.

The best app I have tried is Airmail which has support for Iridium Go built. One of the issues when using Iridium is that as soon as it connects to the internet all your other apps are that and try to grab a share. Airmail prevents the other apps grabbing their bit. Other app also claim this feature but most seem to leak a bit. You can also configure your own firewall to block everything else. Depends on your skills

[CassidyNZ]

In my experience there is no need to worry about whether they charge in seconds or minutes - I can’t recall any download at sea that took less than 5 minutes. At home, on broadband, the downloads take seconds but out at sea (exactly when you have no other connectivity) they are painfully slow. I have experienced 20-minute downloads for a standard PredictWind 4-model GRIB set.

If you’re going with Iridium Go! opt for the unlimited data plan - that way the frustration is only about the wait, not the cost.

Whatever the case, I wouldn’t opt for going to sea without Iridium Go!