I wasn't sure exactly where to put this thread but this should work. I just got back from a bear hunt in AK and I decided that I'd be the Guinea Pig on this new device from Iridium.
It just made it to retailers in the first of August. I talked with several different retailers/renters about the device and they all told me that it worked great in their testing.
Basically it creates a Mobile Wifi network off the Satellite connection. It uses the same satellites as the rest of the Iridium phones which means that you get good coverage over most of the globe. It then allows you to use your regular Android or Apple Smartphone to make calls over wifi, send texts and send emails. I never had any trouble from the device and it gets up and going easily within 1-2 min. At that point you can then make a call or text or email or you can just wait and it doesn't charge you any minutes.
You make calls and send texts by using the Iridium App. It's very straightforward. The text messages go thru from my end immediately but it varied on how quickly you would get a response back. Sometimes I got a response back within 2-3 min, sometimes I would wait 20-30 and not get a response and close the connection. I would then have messages when I rebooted the device.
For email, you use a different Iridium app. It's easy to use as well but you have to setup an account for email with iridium prior to using it. I found the email to have pretty quick response times and my wife and I mostly communicated thru email. I'd send her an email by hitting the send/receive button then wait 5-6 min and check it again and usually her response came thru if she replied quickly. You can also send pics via email from your device. I really liked that. I sent pics of my bear to my friends and family literally within minutes of shooting the bear. Hard to beat that in the backcountry.
The email app also has a Weather Forecast with it and you can update as often as you'd like. Being in Alaska, this was very important. The weather comes from NOAA data. It was pretty accurate but not great but it gave us an idea whether is was going to rain and the wind directions were remarkably accurate which really helped us out.
Overall I was very pleased. Currently I only found 2 people renting it, All Road Sat (who I've rented from before) and Satellite Phone Solutions. I'm sure more people will pick it up going forward. Both charge $75 per week for rental but SPS charges $1.50 per minute for calls/checking email and .50 per text. All Road had a few plans but they require you to pay monthly rates for at least 4 months. I opted for Sat Phone Solutions and they were great. Quick to communicate and everything was in perfect working order. I also purchased some prepaid minutes from them which was something like $1.23 per minute.
More and more people will have this available and I'm sure the prices will come down and that the connection speeds will improve with further updates.
It just made it to retailers in the first of August. I talked with several different retailers/renters about the device and they all told me that it worked great in their testing.
Basically it creates a Mobile Wifi network off the Satellite connection. It uses the same satellites as the rest of the Iridium phones which means that you get good coverage over most of the globe. It then allows you to use your regular Android or Apple Smartphone to make calls over wifi, send texts and send emails. I never had any trouble from the device and it gets up and going easily within 1-2 min. At that point you can then make a call or text or email or you can just wait and it doesn't charge you any minutes.
You make calls and send texts by using the Iridium App. It's very straightforward. The text messages go thru from my end immediately but it varied on how quickly you would get a response back. Sometimes I got a response back within 2-3 min, sometimes I would wait 20-30 and not get a response and close the connection. I would then have messages when I rebooted the device.
For email, you use a different Iridium app. It's easy to use as well but you have to setup an account for email with iridium prior to using it. I found the email to have pretty quick response times and my wife and I mostly communicated thru email. I'd send her an email by hitting the send/receive button then wait 5-6 min and check it again and usually her response came thru if she replied quickly. You can also send pics via email from your device. I really liked that. I sent pics of my bear to my friends and family literally within minutes of shooting the bear. Hard to beat that in the backcountry.
The email app also has a Weather Forecast with it and you can update as often as you'd like. Being in Alaska, this was very important. The weather comes from NOAA data. It was pretty accurate but not great but it gave us an idea whether is was going to rain and the wind directions were remarkably accurate which really helped us out.
Overall I was very pleased. Currently I only found 2 people renting it, All Road Sat (who I've rented from before) and Satellite Phone Solutions. I'm sure more people will pick it up going forward. Both charge $75 per week for rental but SPS charges $1.50 per minute for calls/checking email and .50 per text. All Road had a few plans but they require you to pay monthly rates for at least 4 months. I opted for Sat Phone Solutions and they were great. Quick to communicate and everything was in perfect working order. I also purchased some prepaid minutes from them which was something like $1.23 per minute.
More and more people will have this available and I'm sure the prices will come down and that the connection speeds will improve with further updates.
