Mini M satellite repositioning Feb 2009 - anyone had problems?

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I'm having problems with my Mini M and I have discovered that they have repositioned the satellites effective Feb 2009. http://www.inmarsat.com/Support/Coverage/Mini_M.aspx?language=EN&textonly=False I have started another thread specifically to ask for help on my problem but I am opening this one as a more general question ---- has anyone been having problems with Mini M recently or can anyone report that their Mini M is working fine? If your Mini M is working fine, are you using AORW or some other satellite?
 
Thanks. AST emailed this morning to say that they are talking to Stratos (now part of Inmarsat). According to the Stratos site there have been changes in contracts. I still don't know if I have a hardware problem or whether my SIM has been removed from the system. Will try to get to the bottom of the correct area for use worldwide and post back here.
 
If I were in Italy then I would reset my Mini M to call up the Indian ocean Bird as you are more into the footprint than the Atlantic west where you are on the edge. Also tell your Boss at home as he will have to dial accordingly to call you using the dial code or the Indian ocean satellite.
 
You are probably using the Indian Ocean Bird where there has been no change. The footprint of this one extends to Italy so maybe if Lemain dials into it his service will resume.
 
What's puzzling me from the Inmarsat website is this, for Mini M (not the other services)....

[ QUOTE ]
As part of Inmarsat's satellite repositioning and network optimisation programme, the Inmarsat Mini M service has been transferred to the Inmarsat-3 (I-3) F4 satellite in the Atlantic Ocean Region West (AOR-W), where it is offered as a spot beam service only.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's from:-- http://www.inmarsat.com/Support/Coverage/Mini_M.aspx?language=EN&textonly=False
 
What's puzzling me from the Inmarsat website is this, for Mini M (not the other services)....
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I suspect they have ratioalised over the Atlantic and shut down Mini M on Atlantic East. However if you are in Italy you would have been able to use Atlantic East and Indion Ocean before so now you are limited to Indian Ocean as Atlantic west footprint is a bit dodgy in Italy.

If you go to the inmarsat website as a numptie and get to the bit that tells you how to dial ships then you can enter your satphone number and it will give you the access codes for Indoian ocean. I used to have then all for chatting up oil rigs etc.. However you have to reconfigure your Mini M so it is locked to the Indian ocean bird which also gives Mini M
 
I think that the terminology they are using is imprecise and variable across their information. In places they talk about a 1-3 satellite (sic) and a 1-4 satellite (sic) yet they also tell us that there are eleven satellites. I'm not sure that in this section when they say 'satellite' that they mean 'spacecraft'. I suspect that the term 'satellite' actually means 'communications network via a chain of satellites'.

I am starting to suspect that the 'Areas' e.g. AORW, AORE and Indian Ocean are not serviced by one spacecraft each, but by any number of geostationary spacecraft. If I am correct then they could service the entire Mini M worldwide service by selecting AORW (though it would be a real dog's dinner since they also publish the footprint as if it came from a single spacecraft!).

Your interpretation is that they have taken Mini M off AORE, with AORE being a spacecraft? You might be right but they don't actually say that. They are unclear. I can't experiment right now as I have told AST that the set is switched to AORW (the received signal is fine, here, at the moment, with five bars). I suspect that AST have yet again allowed my system to time-out and that this time the service provider has disabled my SIM (which is the #1 reason that Thrane and Thrane give for the MES time-out error message).

I do need to get to the bottom of this. I wish people could write clear unambiguous English grrrrrr!

Thanks for your help and input /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Lemain

I do some work with inmarsat and have a (little) understanding of their space segment

There are 4 gens of Inmarsat sats - I-1 (now deceased), I-2 (mainly leased services), I-3 with most of the maritime services/legacy services and I-4 with the newer BGAN/Fleet/Swift Broadband services. The Fx refers to the actual spacecraft. There are 4 I-2, 4 I-3 and 3 I-4 satellites.

They were shuffling everything around (including a move of two of the I-4 sats) in Feb and rationalisating services with I-4 F3 being brought into service. It was only the the Atlantic i-4 (refered to as AOR ) that was running Mini-M the rest of the world was on the i-3 sats -so when AOR was repositioned to become EMEA at 25E it had to be moved back to AORW

BTW should only need one dialing code (+870) now for any region, so effectively you no longer need to know where the subscriber is so the actual satellite doesn't matter...

I know this doesn't help very much with your problem but it perhaps isuseful as background.
 
Many thanks for that background. Does that mean that Mini M is not available on AORE -- i.e. I should be selecting AORW?
 
I do need to get to the bottom of this. I wish people could write clear unambiguous English grrrrrr!
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Life would be so boring!!!!!!! The system operates as if there is one satellite for each region and the access code for that satellite is published in Inmarsat. You have to dial the right 3 digit sat code followed by the ship station number. The system will not re route you if you dial up the wrong bird.

The directory is very good and shows the route through all the components that make the full number.

I always use the Inmarsat directory to call family friends and dolly birds who are aboard cruise ships as it is cheaper going STD direct than using the shipping company lines. You juct have to try and make sure you are on a public fax or phone line and not the hot line to the captains office...Mind you it wouldn t be the first time the Captain has delivered one of my Homemade faxed birthday cards with a grin.

One last thing you could check just incase....You talk about a SIM card. Is this a chip similar to one in the mobile phone with 6 or 8 contacts. If so it might be worth polishing the contacts with your best chart pencil. If this doesnt work then yes you have beeen cut off in your prime by your provider for not using your minutes quickly enough..

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I've never tried calling other vessels....it's just an emergency thing for us. Falmouth Coastguard and leave it on when family is in 'crisis'. The minutes thing is a possible....AST tell me that I still have nearly $500 on my account (plus an open credit card mandate) but today I have had three emails telling me that they are having discussions with Stratos. Since I have given their technical department the full details and offered to pull-off all the data they need....and given that my SIM on the menu says 'not available'.... makes me think that my SIM has been disconnected at their end.

I can't easily get to the SIM -- it takes about two hours to disassemble a wardrobe to get to the electronics module with the SIM. And three to put back properly /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I've done it once so maybe knock quarter of an hour off both ends. Why do contractors employ clots?
 
Many thanks for that background. Does that mean that Mini M is not available on AORE -- i.e. I should be selecting AORW?

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My understanding is that you should transfer to AORW which in fact I thought you had done.....which was why I suggested try Indian Ocean as you were more into its foot print...Mind you I am almost as confused as you .

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Oh well....Lets hope the problem is in the counting house and that they will lift the big switch and allow communications to be restored preferably without demands for lots of Squids.

I see that Inmarsat have gone forwards and yes you only need to use one code now to make a call to any ship and inmarsat routes it correctly. In the old days you would have to try several numbers if you wern t sure where the ship was. However the ship does need to be logged into the best posssible service and I don t thing you will get Mini M from Atlantic East since they started tangoing the satelites around in the sky. You will need to use Atlantic west or Indian Ocean as far as I can make out.
 
Update....
The AST "team" told me all last week that the problem was due to my system having been barred by accident. Then, Friday lunchtime, they said that they had finally got Stratos (the Inmarsat subsidiary) to reconnect me and that I would 'definitely' be reconnected immediately.

Then the AST "team" did what the AST "team" does best. It went home for the weekend and left me without a service /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif To add a little insult to the injury they were still giving out their Easter hours on their phone system and email auto-responder. These people are into something much more personal than 'customer service', that is for certain.

On Saturday, I found a new email address for out of hours service from AST, on the bottom of one of their Easter messages.....and this was answered by a really useful guy. No, I am not being cynical....he knew something about the systems! And he did what he said he would. Sadly he did not promise to get my system working /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif He had no knowledge at all of the phone hardware. Handy.

Now, you might think it unreasonable for an emergency out-of-hours engineer to know about all the possible phones but mine is practically the industry standard Mini-M fixed phone, made by Thrane & Thrane and marketed by many other companies worldwide, including Sailor. So to have no working knowledge of my phone is a bit like a marine engineer on the Hamble knowing nothing about an MD11 or a Ford main dealer's workshop supervisor having no personal knowledge of a Ford Focus. Anyway, the guy was nice, he called me back (on the mobile, unlike the other AST monkeys who have only ever emailed and then after my chasing emails). But the emergency guy could do nothing other than book a call for Monday.

So, this morning, I sent a blistering complaint email to Inmarsat and Stratos (subsidiary of Inmarsat) and had a guy on the phone within half an hour. Brilliant. He confirmed that there was and never had been any call barring on my account. They (AST) had wasted the entire time from the 10th April to 18th April chasing a dead end. We went through the technical data readouts from my phone which, he said, were more or less identical to the readouts from his phone in the office (which does work). This suggests, he says, that there is something wrong with my phone hardware -- sorry? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

So now I am waiting for a hardware specialist to phone me to talk me through it....

I lodged my original fault report on 10th April. Today is 19th April.

This, folks, is what you can expect if you buy an Inmarsat service. You might be advised to buy a different product.
 
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