TWL: Iridium Cellular Phone
I am about to buy and Iridium phone, but hear there are problems. Any
comments?
Bill Patton, "U.S. Sea"
billpatton@aol.com
At 08:36 PM 10/4/01 -0400, you wrote:
I am about to buy and Iridium phone, but hear there are problems. Any
comments?
Bill Patton, "U.S. Sea"
billpatton@aol.com
Check out Globalstar first. Similar coverage and fees but many times
transmission speed for data (Internet, email).
Just bought Globalstar after listening to seminars at Trawlerfest at Solomons.
No other interest.
Joe Chernow
MV Liquidity 52' Offshore Flushdeck
Iridium got it's own kind of federal bailout when DoD became, at the very
last minute, interested in the system. The phones have gotten smaller, but
have the clear view problem (got to have a good view of the sky--unblocked
by glass, trees, or flocks of birds. The signal is very fragile. I haven't
read of any data ready phones yet.
On the plus side, Iridium sent some 700 phones to NYC to help folks cope
with the infrastructure being out. It was a nice humanitarian move, but it
will also get them some much needed exposure for their phones and perhaps
arouse some interest. With DoD involvement, however, I suspect the phones
are a safe bet for medium term survival, although if it does falter
financially, Iridium could be bought and run by DoD, locking out civilian
commercial users.
Rick
Rick the Mouseherder - nh2f
Westsail 32 Xapic, Hull #438
Cabo San Juan, Puerto Rico
A small boat and a suitcase full of money
beats a 40 footer tied to the Bank.
Creative graphic solutions in vinyl for your boat lettering & designs
http://www.mouseherder.com
Visit our Westsail 32 Xapic
http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic
The Westsail Owners Assn. Homepage
http://www.westsail.org
=-----Original Message-----
=From: owner-trawler-world-list@samurai.com
=[mailto:owner-trawler-world-list@samurai.com]On Behalf Of
=Billpatton@aol.com
=Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 20:36
=To: trawler-world-list@samurai.com
=Subject: TWL: Iridium Cellular Phone
=
=I am about to buy and Iridium phone, but hear there are problems. Any
=comments?
=Bill Patton, "U.S. Sea"
=billpatton@aol.com
I am about to buy and Iridium phone, but hear there are problems. Any
comments?
Having experienced poor reception on the Chesapeake again this year -
I was about to buy a cell phone antenna ( like I should have done before )
but was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price - he advised me to
wait a bit .
All the Best
Ken
m/v Mrs, Hudson
Interesting but highly improbable...unless there is something going on that
is not making the normal grapevine. It defies normal directions of the
industry which is to closer cells and lower signal levels. If this guy has
a reference I would like to see it.
Shakespeare by the way is making antennas claimed to work at digital
frequencies and couplers to tie digital hand sets to normal cell antenna. I
am still not sure these are legal but I am sure Shakespeare has a reasonable
legal staff.
Note that there does not appear to be anybody (other than some "offcolor"
australian outfit) offering amplifiers for these frequencies.
Jim
I was about to buy a cell phone antenna ( like I should have done before )
but was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price - he advised me to
wait a bit .
All the Best
Ken
m/v Mrs, Hudson
tobyboat@worldnet.att.net writes:
was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price
Can you find out any more details, like if those 5 Watt cellphones
will be analog, digital or both? I am very interested in this
because about a year ago on advice of list members I bought a
PocketMail machine which
a) does not work at all with digital and
b) almost never satisfactorly with the small low wattage analog
cell-phones.
At the moment the unit, a Sharp TM-20, is totally useless for me on
the boat. I have in fact cancelled the contract with the ISP and the
unit is for sale.
I am let to believe that a high-wattage analog cellphone would fix my
problems?
George:
I don't have any experience with PocketMail but I do with using cell phones
for data. The new "tri-mode" digital phones send the data from your serial
port directly to the cell site. My understanding is that the modem is
actually at the cell site. The result is that using one of these new phones
with the optional "data cable" is a whole different world that an analog
phone with a cellular modem. My plan with Verzion provides free weekends
and I have maintained a solid connection for 90 minutes. It did not
disconnect after 90 minutes but I turned it off. The connections are rock
solid and once you connect it never seems to hang up. It is faster than
analog but still relatively slow compared to conventional dial up.
The upcoming availability of a new 5 watt phone would be great but this
flies in the face of everything I have heard about why the companies went
to a digital network. Instead of looking for a new 5 watt analog phone I
would look for a PocketMail machine that would work with one of the new
phones. Or just use a laptop with conventional e-mail and the cable and
tri-mode phone.
Frank Burrows
At 09:51 AM 10/6/01 -0400, you wrote:
was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price
PocketMail machine which
a) does not work at all with digital and
b) almost never satisfactorly with the small low wattage analog
cell-phones.
Re 5 Watt Cell phones
I went to his boat this afternoon -- not there - at present he is living
on his boat in Balto Harbor but working in Washington DC - not easy to get
ahold of - have made inquiry via e mail reguarding the 5 watt cell
phones --- will post to the list when he gets back to me .
Ken
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Geist" scaramouche@tvo.org
To: tobyboat@worldnet.att.net
Cc: billpatton@aol.com; trawler-world-list@samurai.com
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2001 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: TWL: Re: Iridium Cellular Phone
tobyboat@worldnet.att.net writes:
was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price
Can you find out any more details, like if those 5 Watt cellphones
will be analog, digital or both? I am very interested in this
because about a year ago on advice of list members I bought a
PocketMail machine which
a) does not work at all with digital and
b) almost never satisfactorly with the small low wattage analog
cell-phones.
At the moment the unit, a Sharp TM-20, is totally useless for me on
the boat. I have in fact cancelled the contract with the ISP and the
unit is for sale.
I am let to believe that a high-wattage analog cellphone would fix my
problems?
Re 5 Watt Cell phones
I went to his boat this afternoon -- not there - at present he is living
on his boat in Balto Harbor but working in Washington DC - not easy to get
ahold of - have made inquiry via e mail reguarding the 5 watt cell
phones --- will post to the list when he gets back to me .
Ken
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Geist" scaramouche@tvo.org
To: tobyboat@worldnet.att.net
Cc: billpatton@aol.com; trawler-world-list@samurai.com
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2001 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: TWL: Re: Iridium Cellular Phone
tobyboat@worldnet.att.net writes:
was advised by my comunications guru nephew that 5 watt cell phones
will be comming to market shortly - at a decent price
Can you find out any more details, like if those 5 Watt cellphones
will be analog, digital or both? I am very interested in this
because about a year ago on advice of list members I bought a
PocketMail machine which
a) does not work at all with digital and
b) almost never satisfactorly with the small low wattage analog
cell-phones.
At the moment the unit, a Sharp TM-20, is totally useless for me on
the boat. I have in fact cancelled the contract with the ISP and the
unit is for sale.
I am let to believe that a high-wattage analog cellphone would fix my
problems?
Actually, since the phone connection is digital, no MOdulation/DEModulation
device is needed.
Bob
R C Smith Jr
M/V Susan Marie
Hatteras 58 LRC
Chesapeake Bay
From: Frank Burrows fburrows@mail.com
Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 10:33:03 -0400
To: trawler-world-list@samurai.com
Subject: Re: TWL: Re: Iridium Cellular Phone
The new "tri-mode" digital phones send the data from your serial
port directly to the cell site. My understanding is that the modem is
actually at the cell site.