Satellite communications

The French satellite service provider Eutelsat has just announced on February 24 th that it has successfully completed the world's first test of connecting to the 5G non-terrestrial network using low-Earth orbit satellites (LEO) by OneWeb (¹). This program Read more …

Updated 2.2 (February 2025) Get the weather forecast by satellite phone Get Weather forecast with Satphone at Sea. Updated pricing 2025. Starlink Services Update. Updated connection Go!exec® with Weather4D Routing & Navigation. –––

Just published my last post “Starlink Mini, a stone in the sea” that SpaceX makes it obsolete by a radical modification of its service offering. Playtime is over : now offshore pleasure boating with Read more …

Since the launch of Starlink in 2020, the hardware and service offerings were particularly versatile (¹). If the first recreational boaters were able to benefit from a navigation service far superior to the official conditions of use, it seemed obvious Read more …

Since the first launch in 2018 more than 6.600 Starlink satellites have been launched to date, of which almost 6.100 are operational (¹). Satellites have evolved technically, just as the infrastructure was gradually improved. They are launched by Read more …

14 th 2011 – 14 th 2024, a birthday (¹) which does not fall round, but a performance worth saluting ! What was only a startup at the beginning of the use of tablets and smartphones for navigation is today Read more …

We are expanding our scope as an alternative PNT service on a global scale.„ Here is how Iridium presents the acquisition of its partner Satelles. March, the 4 th 2024, Iridium Communications, strategic partner of the company Satelles of which it already owns 20% Read more …

The latest Iridium GO device! exec® (what a funny name !) has been available since March. It represents the first autonomous device produced by Iridium adopting the Certus®100 service (¹) down to 88 Kbps download, 22 Kbps upload. This big brother Read more …

Since the operational commissioning of the Iridium NEXT constellation (¹), the Iridium company has started to offer its new range of services called “Certus®”. These services rely on the significantly increased technological capabilities of new satellites, this Read more …

In space, in an area called LEO (Low Earth Orbit) located at a distance of approximately 200 down to 1.000 km above our heads, several hundred, even thousands, satellites are already flying. They are mainly dedicated to communications and observations Read more …

On this opening day of the Paris Nautic show, and as the Christmas holidays approach, I can't resist the urge to provide a little gift to users of the Iridium Mail satellite messaging application & Web app. A tip that Read more …

Inflation does not spare satellite telephone services, to believe that the price of radio waves increases with the cost of transport ! Does this mean that the cost of the round trip of a radio wave toward Iridium satellites (environ Read more …

More and more of you have adopted the Iridium GO! for its easy way to request GRIB files, directly from Weather4D and some other applications. But some also want to transfer these files to PC for Read more …

A new firmware version 2.1.22 is now available for the Iridium GO!®. This release includes an update to fix an incorrect time and date issue for the Iridium GO device!® et l’application GO!®. This issue does not affect Read more …

L’application Iridium GO!®, used on our smartphones (iOS/Android) to connect to the Iridium network via the device of the same name, just undergone an happy facelift. Nothing really fundamental, if not the user interface, but an aid to elegant graphics Read more …

Since it was introduced to the market in September 2014 (Eh, yes, 5 years already !) this device, with its indisputable ergonomics and excellent quality/price ratio, has become a must-have for offshore sailors. Easy to put in Read more …

A few months late, Iridium has just completed its Iridium NEXT satellite launch campaign (¹). With his 75 new satellites successfully deployed by SpaceX over the past two years, Iridium has achieved the feat Read more …

In June 2012, I wrote a post on the future constellation of Iridium NEXT communications satellites. While intended for operational use in 2017, the calendar had been shifted by a few months. Indeed, the launch of Read more …

[Update 15 February 2019] The recent update of the Iridium Mail application & Web gives me the opportunity to refresh this post originally written in December 2011. The Wi-Fi Optimizer gateway from the RedPort company allows owners 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 have suffered a 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 worries Read more …

Since release Apple iOS 8 early October 2014 l’application Iridium Mail & Web app (which replaced AxcessPoint Mail & Web app) was no longer able to export an attachment to another application using the “Open in” function.… Read more …

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 Read more …

Since its announcement last February, and GO! took a long time to arrive at retailers until the beginning of this month. The E-SAT company gave me one to carry out some tests. Although too late to perform Read more …

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 target the top Read more …

After the announcement with great fanfare of the GO! by Iridium a few months ago, but not yet available, Inmarsat has just presented IsatHub at the recently closed CommunicAsia show in Singapore. Competition is fierce between Read more …

Global satellite company sets its sights on the consumer market with Iridium GO!™ : pack it for camping or world travel. In all public places where you can wirelessly connect to the Internet today, Free Wi-Fi Read more …

As promised in my post on 15 July, here are the results of the comparative test conducted aboard "Prince d'Oc" for our trip from Port Leucate to Dubrovnik. Thanks to the loan of a complete IsatPhone Pro, with station Read more …

The use of Iridium is taking a growing place among offshore sailors. The security of being able to join your family at sea at any time, or to be able to contact a medical service in the event of an emergency, are arguments often raised by Read more …

I just read, in the latest issue of Voiles et Voiliers dated May 2012, an Inmarsat-Iridium comparison that leaves me unsatisfied. Quite interesting in form, it presents a lot of approximations in substance, and does not allow Read more …

After Jean Debèze, avid supporter of Navigation Mac, made me the pleasure of a detailed tutorial about installing a multiplexer aboard his sailboat, here's a ticket by Jacques Vermeulen, who testifies in a very didactic way of his experience Read more …

MailaSail informs us : you can now update your Tweets directly from your Iridium satellite phone (*). Start by sending an SMS from your Iridium with words START or SIGNUP to short code 40404…

With Weather4D PRO and AxcessPoint, associated with an Iridium satellite phone, we now have a complete solution, reliable and low cost to receive, display and manage GRIB files in open seas with iPad. iNavX and Navionics cartography Read more …

I dont like to advertise products or features before they are available, but in this case the subject can guide choices or postponements of purchase among potential users. Iridium announced on last 7 last September Read more …

British company Mailasail provides the tools to directly connect an Iridium to a Mac running OS. A driver specially designed by them now allows data to be transferred from a messaging application under OS, Email Read more …