This is really old news since satellite connectivity has been available for at least 10 years via Inreach devices. More rrecently other companies/devices have joined the market like Zoleo and for some time now Inreach is owned by Garmin.
In the article about the Motorola device it says "The Motorola Defy Satellite Link will be available starting in April, costing $99. It costs $5 per month to subscribe to the Bullitt Satellite Messenger app, which grants access to the SOS emergency service." This is definitely a good price point, but it still sounds to me like all you can do is communicate with the SOS emergency service in case of an emergency. Devices like the Zoleo or the newest Garmin Inreach Messenger are more expensive and the plans are a lot more expensive, but they allow you to send and receive text messages to or from anybody and there is no pointing the device in the direction of the satellites; you can just have a Zoleo in your backpack as you are hiking or on the dash of your car as you are driving and the messages come in and go out just fine. With Zoleo you can actually send messages of up to 950 characters in length as a single message and your device has a fixed phone number and you can also have a yourn...@zoleo.com email address so anybody can send an email to that address and it wil come to your iPhone or Android phone via the Zoleo device/app. Furthermore, you can send free, unlimited check-in messages which are short preprogrammed messages, e.g. if you are out for a hike it could be something like "done hiking for the day and now in camp". For an extra $7.50 Canadian a months (I assume maybe $4.99 US) you can also get automatic tracking where your Zoleo sends out a breadcrumb every 5 or 10 minutes and people you give access can see on a map exactly where you have been and where you are. As I said, the device is more expensive, a Zoleo here in Canada is $279 and plans are not cheap, either, but it does give you full messaging capabilities with a very user-friendly device. here in Canada the cheapest Zoleo plan is $25/month, it gives you 25 messages, any additional messages are 70 Cents each, for $45 you get 250 messages and for $70 you get unlimited messages. After a minimum of 3 months you can suspend your account for $5/month, this keeps your phone number and device active, but you can't send messages so a very good option for people who like to venture out into the wilderness during 4 or 5 months of the year but otherwise may not need the device. Of course for many companies these devices are a great and compared to satellite phone a cheap alternative to communicate with their employees. I just ordered 25 Zoleos for a treeplanting company and they will activate them on the unlimited plan so that would be $1,750 a month, but once again for such companies whose employees often work in extremely remote wilderness areas this is part of the cost of doing business and a way to keep in touch as well as to make sure employees can get help in case of an accident. -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Cristobal Munoz Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 12:20 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Any iPhone can get satellite communications with this gadget | AppleInsider Sounds like a nifty little gadget. Hopefully the app isn’t an accessibility nightmare https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/02/24/any-iphone-can-get-satellite-communications-with-this-gadget -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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