Iridium GO necessity or luxury ocean crossings?

[wilfrid]

I use a fleet one sat, and an iridium GO. I take it as an back up in case of failure, or network issue with the Fleet One. iridium satelitte are not static they pass from one pole to the other. This makes connection time limited close to the equator, although excellent near poles. I also like the low cost for tracking, sanding a daily text message with the position and the link to open a chart and see vessel's position for my family/friends. I do t-his with a unique email adress, that dispaches to a liost of emeil adresses that I set according to the crewlist wishes.

[snbrooker]

I use an iridium Go unlimited plan for cruising the Sea of Cortez. Weather on demand is worth every penny as SSB and pactor is both expensive and not always reliable to receive.
Many people cruise with nothing relying on others to provide weather updates
My2cents

[sailor2]

Anybody has a recent experience with Globalstar?
While their coverage is nowhere near Iridium, both speed (72kbps)and price ($50 per month) is attractive.

The current promo has unlimited voice and data for $50 per month:
https://www.globalstar.com/en-us/pro...safety/sat-fi2

Sat-Fi2
Satellite Wi-Fi Hotspot
$499.00 NOW $249.99
Receive UNLIMITED Voice & Data for $50/mo with the purchase of a Sat-Fi2 for a limited time only.

[Bon Temps]

I used mine a lot. It was pretty nice look at the weather and texting people where I was at. I sold my boat last month. If you need one I will sell you mine
Lancestairs@gmail.com

[BigAl.NZ]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

When are you planning to start using it, and where? It seems there are many "better solutions" on the horizon. Starlink has now completed 8 launches and has >400 satellites in orbit. If they keep to schedule they may actually launch service in North America (and surrounding oceans) later this year.

Service should be much better/faster, and proposed pricing much less than GO. But right now they and their competitors are just vaporware. If the need isn't "right now" I'd wait until it was. Regardless of how you may feel about the sheer number/volume of satellites they are there, and are very likely to be a game changer. If it doesn't develop, well, you can go to Plan B and get a GO, or an SSB, or.... at that point.

I hope you are right about Starlink and also there is the new generation of Iridium Next terminals which are coming.

However, getting the satellites into orbit and having a working terminal are two different things. Look how long Iridium Next has been in orbit, but there is no Go style replacement yet (they have been focusing on commercial operators).

Anyhow I think your advice good, wait if you can - I too think the market is ready for a shakeup that is definitely on the horizon.

[Dsanduril]

Yes, to me the question is "how far on the horizon?" If I had to go now I'd choose from what is available now. But if I'm a year out I'd wait and see. I don't want to be on the cutting edge, but in this realm I think there is the possibility of big change in the near future. Time will tell.

[wholybee]

On my circumnavigation the only place i would say the Iridium was a "necessity" is the mozambique channel. It's critical to get weather enroute there. Everywhere else i was glad to have it, but never needed to alter course or divert from what i planned before setting off.

If your longest passage is 7 days or less its very much a luxury.

[Tom and Maje]

When we did our transatlantic crossing our crew member had one, and we used it a lot.

Maje

[NSfooter]

For a simple text & email solution, Zoleo plans are 25 Canadian a month

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by BigAl.NZ

I hope you are right about Starlink and also there is the new generation of Iridium Next terminals which are coming.

However, getting the satellites into orbit and having a working terminal are two different things. Look how long Iridium Next has been in orbit, but there is no Go style replacement yet (they have been focusing on commercial operators).

Anyhow I think your advice good, wait if you can - I too think the market is ready for a shakeup that is definitely on the horizon.

I understood that Starlink, although it will soon have a relatively significant number of satellites up, was not able to and not currently planning to have the satellites talking to each other. Signals would go from you to the satellite and then directly to the ground station. This will mean that coverage would work fine for those areas where you were relatively near (a few hundred miles) to a ground station. I don't believe that Starlink is likely to have internet access when out at sea for many years yet, at least five and probably more like ten until it's commercially available.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Luxury.
But so are: a good read, a bottle of Champagne, and silk bow ties (I carry 6).
Do not let the luxury / non luxury thinking drive your choices.
Get what is essential FIRST, then get all the luxury you care to carry.
It is sailing boat, not an hermitage.
barnakiel

HaHa, funny but very true.

[GoneDiving]

Originally Posted by Discovery 15797

. The kit cost with external antenna are about $1k. I have a PredictWind account and pay $139.95 per month for unlimited data and 150 talking minutes..

In these days of WhatsApp, Facetime, Messenger etc isnt any talk time limit meaningless? Or is there a restriction/insufficient bandwidth to use data based communications apps?

Cheers

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by GoneDiving

In these days of WhatsApp, Facetime, Messenger etc isnt any talk time limit meaningless? Or is there a restriction/insufficient bandwidth to use data based communications apps?



Cheers

2.4kbsp, 2400 baud.

Plenty for text. Photos, not so much, even a 1Mp photo would need about 3hr upload or download.

[Anton Dahlmann]

Originally Posted by Bon Temps

I used mine a lot. It was pretty nice look at the weather and texting people where I was at. I sold my boat last month. If you need one I will sell you mine
Lancestairs@gmail.com

How much are you wanting for it?

[SY Kelpie]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

I understood that Starlink, although it will soon have a relatively significant number of satellites up, was not able to and not currently planning to have the satellites talking to each other. Signals would go from you to the satellite and then directly to the ground station. This will mean that coverage would work fine for those areas where you were relatively near (a few hundred miles) to a ground station. I don't believe that Starlink is likely to have internet access when out at sea for many years yet, at least five and probably more like ten until it's commercially available.

If that's how it works that would certainly be a shame. I know that OneWeb operates without any sat-to-sat links. Tbh I thought Starlink was different but I can't find a source for that so I may be wrong.

I don't think the need for a gimballed antenna mount is a show-stopper though. What's to stop you using one of those nifty handheld camera gimbals? The Starlink antenna won't be too heavy, and if the whole thing was housed inside some sort of cover, you wouldn't have to worry about wind loads.