Iridium Go

[mvweebles]

I'll be interested in following this. I was surprised to see a reasonable plan (10 gb) at $3k/mo to give some idea. As a guy who likes to travel under-the-radar and classified as a 100% remote office worker these days, I feel your wife's pain of missing an important call. I've been there a couple times myself and it's super stressful. You only get a couple mulligans like that. I travel quite a bit in Mexico and while I usually have service, it often drops.

Last year, I went from San Francisco to Ensenada and passed between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands (Channel Islands). I had lost cell service several hours before, well before Pt Arguello as I recall and didn't pick it back up until I was close to Catalina Island several hours later. An occasional text got through, but noting reliable. That part of California is surprisingly remote.

Peter

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Vianet appears to be a fixed wireless system, similar to Hughes in the US.

Correct. They use geostationary satellites which means high latitudes won't work. You'll need a high-rate az-el antenna. I call those "fire control" platforms. *grin* SV Delos recently installed a Sailor 600 for this service. See

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmNTJrdLHMc

.

Current plans on the website are https://www.viasat.com/lp/plans but Delos has something faster that you can actually use for higher bandwidth applications. CF member Richard Anderson (Sea-Tech Systems) recently published a white paper. The numbers I cited are from memory based on his paper. Any errors are mine. I can't lay my hands on the paper at the moment but perhaps Richard will pop up.

Originally Posted by Sdpaddler50

Thanks for the input everyone; it is appreciated. As you can tell, I know enough to be dangerous about the subject of satellite communications and just starting the research phase.

You may be better served with a broadband cellular booster like the WeBoost Drive 4G-X. Get better coax than WeBoost sells and a good antenna like the Shakespeare 5239. This approach means less learning curve and that your wife is always accessible at the same number rather than two. Also note that Iridium is a "country" so anyone calling pays international rates unless you pay extra for a US dial-in number. You may still have to adjust your cruising for coverage.

[Sdpaddler50]

We already have a WiFi booster antenna on the arch, 20 ft above sea level. It works well offshore to about 20 miles off coast. The problem has been within the Islands when we are parked or in transit. And, beyond 20 miles or so off the coast. We are just coastal cruisers, no blue water distances, but we travel a lot and are currently on month long trip so investing in the right gear is worth it.

The ViaSat plans are reasonable based on what they provide. Thanks for the link.

This project won’t happen until Q4 of 2020 so I will review the options and likely check back in later with some follow up questions.

Cheers.