The blog
In June 2012, I wrote a post about the future constellation of communications satellites Iridium NEXT. While intended for operational use in 2017, the calendar had been shifted by a few months. Indeed, the launch of the first ten satellites by the private company SpaceX, originally planned on 12 th 2016, was postponed for a few months by the explosion on September 1 of a Falcon rocket 9 rocket explosion during the fuel filling on its launch pad before a shot of engine test.
[Update 15 February 2019] The recent update of the application Iridium Mail & Web app gives me the opportunity to refresh this post originally written in December 2011.
The Wi-Fi Gateway Optimizer from RedPort allows owners of a mobile satellite phone to make requests and receive GRIB weather files from an iPad or iPhone on the high seas, into the wild, anywhere on the world.
After implementing and testing this solution On a long journey, It proved to be perfectly operational. However, it is limited to the receipt of the forecasts of the GFS weather model worldwide, and the wave pattern WW3, obtained by the American server's autoresponder Saildocs.
The Department of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, published on 4 August a Boating Safety Alert about LEDs bulbs (¹). The text warns boaters on the risks of radio interference found where the VHF antennas are close to navigation lights or bridge lamps equipped with LEDs bulbs. Read more …
If satellite phone rates, mainly Iridium and Inmarsat, have not evolved in the United States., this is not the case in France. After storage removal of products remained on the shelves, new supplies from distributors saw a sharp increase. Indeed, the combined action of Euro decline and French VAT rise obligated to a significant prices increase, both the material as communication SIM vouchers, prepaid or postpaid. Read more …
Iridium announced to its distribution network the shutdown of the AxcessPoint WiFi router at the end of February (¹) which allows an iPad or iPhone to connect to an Iridium phone to access an email service.
No need to worry for current users : the associated Iridium email service will remain active and accessible to all users. However, this router will no longer be able to be ordered from the 25 February. Read more …
Since release Apple iOS 8 early October 2014 the messaging app Iridium Mail & Web app (who replaced Iridium Mail & Web app) was no longer able to export an attachment to another application using the “Open in” function.… ”. As a result, a GRIB weather file received as an attachment from the SailDocs server could no longer be used in any application, mainly Weather4D PRO.
It took more than 3 months for two successive updates to correct this severely handicapping problem for Iridium customer users :
Since the release of Iridium GO! (¹) There were two different pages of subscription (for free) to messaging service, and two applications (iOS/Android) to connect to Iridium devices. Now there is only one application : Iridium Mail & Web app to connect to either the router Optimizer, or to Iridium GO! Read more …
Since its announcement last February, and GO! took a long time to arrive at retailers until the beginning of this month. The company E-SAT gave me one to conduct some tests. Although too late to carry out these tests at sea, the Quai des Antilles on the Ile de Nantes offers a wide sky clearance also than the deck of a boat, enough to connect satellites of all-round. Two types of tests were carried out : requests and receipts of GRIB weather files from an iPad featured with Weather4D PRO app, functions related to telephony from an iPhone.
The war is open between the two leading operators worldwide satellite phone. After the announcement of the GO! by Iridium (¹), here is IsatPhone 2 by Inmarsat.
Inmarsat will deliver its new mobile satellite phone on March 24 next. IsatPhone 2 Targets the high-end of the satellite telephony market. Described as "a fine device combined with a feeling of high quality", it has additional options and more features than the previous IsatPhone Pro model (²), such as GPS tracking, an emergency button or the reception of calls with the antenna folded. Read more …
After the announcement with great pump of the GO! by Iridium few month ago, but not yet available, Inmarsat has introduced IsatHub at CommunicAsia show which just closed its doors in Singapur. The competition is tough between the two industrial, but unlike Iridium more oriented towards mainstream users, Inmarsat is aimed primarily at a professional market.
IsatHub is a WiFi hotspot allowing to connect all mobile devices to Inmarsat satellite network. No need cellular towers, IsatHub provides aworldwide connectivity to your tablets and smartphones.
Read more …