LOL … reminds me of being on a cruise ship that had auto billing blocks of data – thought I had closed up my Mac and taken it offline … next morning the usage window pops up and almost 4GB later … tough less to learn when the AMEX bill came in ;0
From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Eric Kuhnke Sent: July 19, 2016 1:38 PM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Satelite connectivity while traveling. If you hook a BGAN up to an ordinary laptop running Win7/Win10/OSX, be extremely cautious with what it's set up to do on the network automatically - you would not believe the ridiculous BGAN bills I have seen people incur from windows updates, automatic itunes updates, leaving Outlook open but not doing anything and having Outlook decide to resynchronize 1GB of email with a remote Exchange server, etc. Leave a laptop connected to a BGAN overnight and transfer 2000MB at $5/MB... On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 7:46 PM, Brandon Yuchasz <li...@gogebicrange.net <mailto:li...@gogebicrange.net> > wrote: Eric and others thanks for the help. Looks like BGAN is what I will want to be looking into if I want to do it right. I could cover the majority of my needs for about 500$ for 100 meg in data over a 90 day period. That would more than likely cover my needs during the fall which is when I take all my trips “way up north”. The whole thing started with me looking into GPS messenger / texting services so I could stay in touch. Then I started getting greedy. I think I will do a little test over the next week and see how much data I use tethering to my phone that will give me a good idea how much I would need in a really remote area to log in a fix a few things. Brandon Yuchasz GogebicRange.net www.gogebicrange.net <http://www.gogebicrange.net/> From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com> ] On Behalf Of Eric Kuhnke Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 8:33 PM To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Satelite connectivity while traveling. Iridium Go still uses the existing Iridium network, it's still 2400 baud with v42bis (until the next generation of Iridium LEO satellites launch), it's just a small portable modem with bluetooth/wifi link to your devices. I assure you it'll be completely frustrating and impossible to use for interactive TCP/IP services at 2400 baud and 1350ms latency with 5% packet loss. It's for email and SMS only. The current Iridium network is not really 9600 baud, it's quoted as 9600 because that's a theoretical speed you can achieve if transferring a v42bis compressed text file at 2400 bps. Basically the same as BBS dialup with a good quality US Robotics modem at 2400 baud if you download a pure ASCII text file. It's actually kind of a miracle of voice codecs and compression technology that they managed to squeeze voice calls into 2400 baud with R&D from 1994-1998. If you ever have the pleasure of speaking with someone on a handheld Iridium phone it's very robotic. There is also an Iridium product for maritime use that multiplexes three or four Iridium modems into a single terminal, for somewhat better speeds. It's marketed at large ships and for yacht owners who are so rich that they don't care about the $/MB transferred or that it costs $13,000 in diesel to fill their yacht. Interestingly Iridium coverage gets BETTER as you go further north (or very far south, like the Antarctic peninsula and plateau) because the satellites are in 90 degree inclined polar orbits, their orbits all converge over the poles (example: historical satellite collision with dead russian satellite!). There's also fewer active users and SBD terminals as you go further north. On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 5:26 PM, Paul Stewart <p...@paulstewart.org <mailto:p...@paulstewart.org> > wrote: I had option B for many years simply for making voice calls in remote areas. Worked very well … Eric did a great summary of options (way better than I ever could) … wondering if Iridium Go! Is an option that might work … don’t know much more than what I read on the website though … and I didn’t see anywhere about speeds but $159/month isn’t bad for something like this… (150 minutes voice, unlimited data and SMS). Hardware options include vehicle kit and other stuff …. Eric – do you know much about that particular service and it’s totally got me curious too as I ATV sometimes into very remote areas where there’s no cell coverage and my emergency plan is SPOT satellite messenger device (just upgraded to Gen3) which works great, but just being able to make a phone call is appealing too …. Just noticed actually on the findmespot.com <http://findmespot.com> website that they now have a phone service too with a data option – 9600 baud but better than nothing ;) How far “north” is the real question – I had my Iridium phone a couple hundred miles south of Alert one time and it didn’t work at all which wasn’t surprising but it did work in Resolute which did surprise me… Paul From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com> ] On Behalf Of Brandon Yuchasz Sent: July 18, 2016 8:11 PM To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Satelite connectivity while traveling. Option B is certainly something I would consider. Phone is good but without data I am still pretty blind. Option C sound promising. 5$ a MB is fine if I spend 100$ + to deal with an issue that needs to be dealt with fine. I should point out a vehicle installed / mounted option would probably be a good way to go. Its my truck that goes on these trips. Best regards, Brandon Yuchasz GogebicRange.net www.gogebicrange.net <http://www.gogebicrange.net/> From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] On Behalf Of Eric Kuhnke Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 6:45 PM To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Satelite connectivity while traveling. I've worked in satellite for many years... You have a few options and none are cheap for high latitudes: a) Portable VSAT terminal 0.9 to 1.2 meter size range, Ku or Ka-band. Expensive hardware and service starts from $450/mo in a highly contended TDMA network. You'd need to verify spot beam coverage and signal strength in particular locations if you're going to the north. Most consumer grade VSAT stuff is not appropriate. There are Ka-band services on Telesat satellites which are resold by XPlornet and others in Canada for high latitude fixed-site Ka-band VSAT services. Not very portable stuff - it's designed to be installed and aimed once on the side of a house. b) Iridium handheld phone - works literally anywhere on the planet but you're NOT going to web browse on it. It's 2400 baud with v42bis compression. Works for SMS, voice and email. c) Inmarsat BGAN terminal - how do you feel about $5/MB? Also, uses geostationary satellites so if you're going to high latitudes connectivity might be a problem. Can't use the very small laptop sized BGAN terminals in northern Canada. For a "shit hits the fan" solution there's nothing more portable and better than an Iridium phone and a portable 20W solar charger. The $40/mo service accounts come with no minutes, you set up your credit card for usage billing. If SHTF then you don't care that it's $1.19/minute to make a call. On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Brandon Yuchasz <li...@gogebicrange.net <mailto:li...@gogebicrange.net> > wrote: I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with and products that would provide me a data connection through satellite? Not a dish system something more portable. The scenario is I have a few trips coming up. The first later this year is the same I take every year far north Canada and no cell signal where we stay. I can get texts sometimes and have to go to town to find wifi 45 minutes one way one truck for the group so going to town affects everyone. I don’t every plan to work on this trip but if SHTF then I might need to get online diagnose and instruct what to replace. So this leads me to the idea of satellite remote access. I would need to connect via VPN to the network speed is not terribly important. Anyone got any experience? Upfront cost is a little of a concern. Minutes / data cost is not if its expensive fine. Best regards, Brandon Yuchasz GogebicRange.net www.gogebicrange.net <http://www.gogebicrange.net/>
