Are there any Iridium Go Plans that are truly just one month long?

[kusuri]

Hello -

I currently have a Starlink installed on my sailboat, which works great. However, for long off-shore passages, I'd like a back up satellite system in case my Starlink breaks or doesn't work in those areas.

I basically just want something that can text in emergencies and possibly get GRIB files. Very minimal.

We inherited an Iridium Go! system on our boat, so it seems like a perfect back up solution. However, Predict Wind has all these hidden fees. It's $65 per month of usage, but you can't cancel within the first month so you have to buy two months right off the bat. Then there is the $45 activation fee. And Sim cards cost $10. The price adds up. So basically to use it for a 5 day passage as a back up would cost $185.

I looked into Blue Cosmos, and they seem cheaper. $65 per month, seems like you can cancel as much as you want. But there are hidden fees. Reactivation of a sim costs $250, so you'd have to buy a bunch of sim cards. I'm still finding out whether or not that's possible.

I would love to hear what other people are using. Is there an Iridium Go plan that can be turned off and on as needed without crazy fees?

Or, what do people recommend for this situation?

[Karanga]

The dinosaur that is Iridium Go knows that its days are numbered. Instead of trying to meet the market and ask an appropriate (low) price for what is crappy service and performance, Iridium is cynically still trying to extract as many dollars as it can for as long as there are still willing buyers.

[SailingHarmonie]

Yes… and no.

There are plans that allow you to easily turn them off and on. BUT there is a limit to the amount of time you can be “off”, and in most of them you are limited in when you can switch, typically twice a year, and at the beginning of billing cycles. There are no plans I know of which get you an active account for less than about $800 a year.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Karanga

The dinosaur that is Iridium Go knows that its days are numbered. Instead of trying to meet the market and ask an appropriate (low) price for what is crappy service and performance, Iridium is cynically still trying to extract as many dollars as it can for as long as there are still willing buyers.

The Iridium Go is a different use case. A delivery captain, for example, isn't going to carry a Starlink with them. A Starlink won't fit into a life raft, etc. The Go, provides automatic position updates, and uses almost no power.

Of course if you compare them as an Internet access device, the Starlink is going to win. But that isn't what the Go, is, and never really was. It was weather, position updates, and emergency comms.

[donradcliffe]

Do you have the Starlink maritime plan and antenna?

If not, its likely that Starlink will stop your service when you go offshore.

$185 to Predict Wind for the GO seems to be the cheapest option. The Satellite Phone store wants $180/month with a 1 year minimum.

[Capt.Don]

Check out the Iridium Go! monthly plans starting at $65/month. I like BlueCosmo, but any of the Iridium providers have the same plans. The monthly unlimited is now $145/month which gives unlimited text, data and 200 voice. Past seasons we've use Iridium Mail and Web (iOS) to download GRIBs using SailDocs. Other weather related apps (Weather4D, qtvlm,....) are certified to work with Iridium Go! and download GRIBS natively on the Iridium Go!. This is on our list to start using. You don't need PredictWind, unless you need ECM or other GRIB formats.

You can purchase a couple of SIM cards and activate them as needed. They are active for the month and can be setup to auto-renew. Each year I buy a couple of SIM cards and activate at the beginning of each season, and cancel during the last month. There's no other fees for the monthly plans (You might be confusing the Iridium sat-phone plans with all the hidden fees?).

We just decided to continue to use our Iridium Go! instead of investing in Starlink. It is a long story, but it appears Starlink's changed their terms requiring the service address (country) to be the same as the credit card issued country. We are hearing stories of people whose monthly credit-card automatic payment was denied. This doesn't work for us so back to the Iridium Go! for this season.

Don

[kusuri]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and suggestions. I ultimately decided that Iridium Go wasn't going to work for me, even though we already have the hardware and SIM cards. We're already paying for Starlink's Maritime plan ($250 a month) so I don't want to pay $65 a month for something I'm not going to use except in emergencies.

I researched all the other emergency satellite device options, (Spot, inReach, Y3, Zoleo, etc) and I calculated that the Zoleo was the cheapest option for me. It was on sale at REI for $150. $20 activation fee, and it's $20 a month to use. After the first three months you can suspend it to $4 a month for as long as you want and as many times as you want. That fits my budget a bit better. It doesn't do much more than send and receive messages, but it'd work for us until we could get to land or fix our Starlink.