Iridium AccessPoint

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Independence

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I'm researching a way of downloading compressed GRIB files and have so far been made very confused by a man at the boat show and a man on the telephone!

At the moment I do not own an Iridium phone and similar to the previous 2 occassions I've needed one I'd intended to go the hire route. (I'd previously not downloaded GRIB files or connected to the internet).

I've now seen 'Iridium AccessPoint' which seems to be a way of creating an iridium wi-fi hotspot which a smart phone, tablet or lap top can connect to. Does anyone have experience of these and if so can you add to my knowledge base........in extremely simple....basic language......layman terms........talking really simple here!!?
 
You need to speak to Ed Wildgoose? (Spelling) who is mailasail. he is very much in the know of all things Iridium
 
I will have a go.

Think of an Iridium as little more than a router. So once upon a time you had a router in your home and in a separate box a modem. The modem was connected to the telephone line which provided the internet feed, and the router broadcast that information to any device with a wifi connection. The router in itself was / is a dumb device and of no use what so ever without a modem. These days of course we are accustom to both being contained within one box. The Iridium Access Point is akin to the router. It connects to an Iridium phone and broadcasts the Iridium connection to the internet wirelessly, so your iPhone or computer will "see" a wifi hotspot. The Access Point connects to the Iridium phone with a cable. You could connect your iridium 'phone directly to your computer, but of course only the computer that was connected would have access to the internet. If the Iridium 'phone was wifi enable like an iPhone you could tether the 'phone without the need for an Access Point but Iridium don't provide tethering - in other words the Iridium phone does not act as a WiFi transmitter. Does that make sense?

Why would you want the hotspot? Well it would enable anyone on board with a wifi device (computer, smart phone, book reader etc) to access the internet using the connection between the Iridium 'phone and the Iridium satellite constellation.

So what are the problems? Well anyone gaining access (but of course it would be password protected) would be capable of running up a big bill very quickly.

So it sounds like a good idea? I suppose it has some attractions although how often you would want access in this way could be doubtful. In reality the data feed from an Iridium phone is painfully slow - even one grib file will take some time to receive, so you will hardly be surfing the web.

If you want a ship wide web surfing capability then Fleet Broadband is probably a far better solution, with the Fleet box connected to a conventional router. It is a neat solution, at a price, both in terms of the cost of the kit and the cost of the service, but even then is like rolling back home internet to the days of a dial up modem.

I hope I haven't made that too simple? I haven't used an Iridium Access Point so I hope my explanation is correct, I am more familiar with the Fleet products.
 
Independence said:
........in extremely simple....basic language......layman terms........talking really simple here!!?
Click to expand...

I hope this is a simple enough explanation(?)
Given the internet functions of your smartphone while connected to a land network, as you use them every day, if you even remotely think of having the same type of use while connected through an Iridium portable phone then you will be very, very disappointed (and pay huge bills in between).
Think about data speed *a lot* lower than the first internet phone cable connections that appeared at the beginning of the internet 20 years ago, and think about paying say 1 dollar per minute.
Always in very simple terms, think about asking the page www.ybw.com and having in theory to wait say half an hour before it fully comes up on the screen. "In theory" because with such a big transfer it is most likely that the satellite connection will be interrupted several times, dial again, dial again..
Let alone if you "share" this connection through wifi with other users.

By far the most efficient way of using a satellite portable phone for data retrieval is by email: one first connection to send the request, then a few minutes later a second connection to retrieve the answer.
 
Thanks everyone.

Yes intend to do a trans-atlantic.

Will speak with Ed.

One of the issues, from what I can see so far, is that because I want to hire a phone I will not find anyone who will provide me a contract for 4-5 months which will enable me to download GRIB files (don't know why this stops me downloading files provided I had the right software).

As I am using an old lap top which has had a memory upgrade I wanted to download the software to see how it impacted on the perofrmance of the lap top but I can't even find the software to download although it is apparently on the Iridium website.

Think I need to go and talk to someone....be afraid if you are out there....be very afraid!!

Thanks everyone
 
Slight drift and as if you don't have enough to deal with already... :)
But with a radio like this..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_t...Degen+1103&_nkw=Degen+1103&_sacat=0&_from=R40
And some free software like jvcomm you'll be able to recieve free synoptic weather charts. I actually much prefer wfax to gribs offshore as it gives a better feel for what's going on.
Good luck with the sat phone, Mailasail do payg sims which you can buy line rental for as well as airtime, so you can buy a 3 month sim and extend the line rental a month at a time if you want. As for software, when I crossed a few years ago there wasn't really any, just a driver for the phone and gribs were received by sending an email with the area then an email came back almost instantly with the Grib attached.
 
Independence said:
Thanks everyone.

Yes intend to do a trans-atlantic.

Will speak with Ed.

One of the issues, from what I can see so far, is that because I want to hire a phone I will not find anyone who will provide me a contract for 4-5 months which will enable me to download GRIB files (don't know why this stops me downloading files provided I had the right software).

As I am using an old lap top which has had a memory upgrade I wanted to download the software to see how it impacted on the perofrmance of the lap top but I can't even find the software to download although it is apparently on the Iridium website.

Think I need to go and talk to someone....be afraid if you are out there....be very afraid!!

Thanks everyone
Click to expand...

As before, go the mailasail.com where all these questions will be answered.
 
Independence said:
I'm researching a way of downloading compressed GRIB files and have so far been made very confused by a man at the boat show and a man on the telephone!

At the moment I do not own an Iridium phone and similar to the previous 2 occassions I've needed one I'd intended to go the hire route. (I'd previously not downloaded GRIB files or connected to the internet).

I've now seen 'Iridium AccessPoint' which seems to be a way of creating an iridium wi-fi hotspot which a smart phone, tablet or lap top can connect to. Does anyone have experience of these and if so can you add to my knowledge base........in extremely simple....basic language......layman terms........talking really simple here!!?
Click to expand...

Any help?

 
I will not find anyone who will provide me a contract for 4-5 months which will enable me to download GRIB files (don't know why this stops me downloading files
Click to expand...
Being a bit picky, it might be just the way that you describe it, but you don't download a grib file as an entity, It is an attachment to an email. Things that can go wrong with the attachment are that it is too big or that your mail is setup not to download attachments, so providing that the Sat phone provider allows you to receive emails (with attachments) there should be no problem getting gribs.
An eg of the grib request mail that I send to: query@saildocs.com
Is: send gfs:30N,65N,40W,20E|1,1|0,3,...,48|PRMSL,WIND,PRESS,APCP
 
Have you considered the isatphone. Quite cheap and cost effective on airtime and can connect laptop. Will need an external aerial for any of these portable sets. Isat works on the Inmarsat network. I have had one for back up long range calls on transats before
 
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