Middle of the Atlantic - Cell Phone Still Works !

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by CarlF

It looks great but it is one way, right? You can only send and can't receive.

Carl

Yep! Nothing on their page about receiving anything.

[Southern Star]

I've got a 3 year old Globalstar in storage - if and when they get the new satellites up and restore proper service I will get a new contract. Nevertheless, this seems like a prettty cost-effective tool.

Brad

[PamlicoTraveler]

From the looks of that coverage map it is pretty good worldwide coverage. We love the SPOT and use it all the time, but this thing is definately cool if it works.

[goboatingnow]

This is just a development of the previous SPOT system, its uses the Globalstar Short message service, in fact SPOT is owned by Globalstar and seems to be keeping the company afloat while it fixes its major voice issues.

The unit connects via Bluetooth to an Android smartphone, ( i beleive theres no iphone app, as apples bluetooth stack isnt open) You dont actualyy use the "phone" part of your cellphone, so its matters not what "frequencies" you have.

You can send small mesages 41 characters, and position reports etc. No receive.

Its in no way a replacement for voice, not in my opinion is it as good as the iridium Short Burst Data, which is two way, devices are on the way that use this system.


Dave

[joey69]

the new 4G phones work anywhere,they run off of the gps system.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by joey69

the new 4G phones work anywhere,they run off of the gps system.

Care to substantiate that? I'm thinking you're quick to believe something WAY wrong.

If it were true there would be a lot of expensive satelite phones and systems worth zip real fast, just to touch the tip of the iceberg.

[joey69]

that's what they advertise anyway.

[atoll]

ain't no free lunch,im' sticking with my irridium,works out cheaper than a mobile on roaming any way.... for out going calls,plus people can send short,100 character emails,for free to me.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by joey69

that's what they advertise anyway.

You're reading the ads wrong. The GPS in the phone works off of the GPS satelites.

[joey69]

yep. i'm wrong......oops

[Scuba1]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The unit connects via Bluetooth to an Android smartphone, ( i beleive theres no iphone app, as apples bluetooth stack isnt open) You dont actualyy use the "phone" part of your cellphone, so its matters not what "frequencies" you have.

Dave

SPOT Connect is made for:

iPod touch® (2nd-4th generation)
iPhone®4
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 3G

Also compatible with:

iPad® (non-optimized for screen size)
Android™ platform 2.0 and later.

ATB

Michael

[bvimatelot]

Ha!! Once upon a time I had a Spot Transmitter....I got everyone gee'd up and excited about receiving my position reports and for the first 4 days from the Canaries to BVI it, so I'm told, worked fine. Day 5 was rather busy with a deepening Low spreading from the Canaries on whose edge I was making a fast, if rather lumpy, passage. An approaching squall line had me reefing down at the same time as I had the little gizmo in the cockpit, busily transmitting away (at least, one assumes so). Unfortunately Poseidon, or possibly Neptune, decided that he needed Spot much more than I did so he deposited a rather large bit of oggin over the bow, which reached the cockpit, turning it into a slow-draining swimming pool. With my hands full of winch handle and reefing line and my wellies topping up with water, I watched helplessly as the dam thing disappeared over the side. Oh well - another hundred-odd bucks down the drain and some rather bemused chums who thought I must have been in the doldrums or something. Otherwise, an interesting passage with lots of things going wrong, which always makes it a bit more interesting. T

[lannen]

I'm sticking with my ham radio. I get email, weather, world news, and can flap my yap till the batteries run dry.

$ for each message, more $ to send your position, more $ for each little additional feature. It's headed in the right direction, just not there yet for me. It looks like all they have done is interface your cell phone with the existing SPOT system to give you something to type on that has a built in GPS receiver.