Cutting the costs when using a satphone

Recently I’ve been thinking of ways of cutting the costs when using a satellite phone. There are at least a few options to consider. One in considering satellite phone rental instead of buying your own phone. This may not always work, though, as the longer the period we need the phone for, the less financially interesting this option is.

The other is cutting the costs when buying your own phone. How? Well, first you might consider choosing the right satellite phone plan, as just like with regular phones, you can cut your costs somewhat by correctly estimating your usage and choosing the best option from your provider. The second is buying a cheaper sat phone. The simplest way to do this is to buy a used phone. If you want to go real cheap you can consider buying a first-generation sat phone, like an Ascom 21 or Hughes 7100 (if your considering Thuraya) or and Kyocera SS-66K (for Iridium).

They are somewhat more bulkier than the new models, but as long as you don’t buy damaged equipment, you should do just fine with them. The older phone work fine within their networks – just as the new ones (Globalstar might be an exception to this, as their old phones might not work globally due to some compatibility issues – but Globalstar is a seperate issue of its own so I’m going to leave it for another time).

Interesting Thuraya

I’ve been watching quite closely the satellite phone market for some time now. It’s an overall interesting subject, as it reflects the dream of being able to communicate “anywhere, anytime”. But, on the other hand, it’s a very specific market. It has many obstacles of its own. No wonder that the first giants like Iridium and Globalstar, fell.

The costs of launching a network of satellites, maintaining the system and then replacing it after 7-15 years is enormous. You need to be a real business wizard to have something like that going smoothly.

Iridium and Globalstar both bankrupted in the early 2000’s, with outrages debts. The new owners bought the equipment for pennies, but still have a tough time balancing the companies (especially Globalstar, who has faced an earlier than planned replacement of their satellite network).

And Thuraya in this light is an interesting company. It isn’t global, no, but that has allowed it to start by investing a much smaller amount into building it’s system. They have put on the market some interesting (very small!) satellite phones, the Thuraya SG-2520 and Thuraya SO-2510, and now have launched a new handheld, the Thuraya XT.

I will try you to give a better glimpse of the company and equipment it is offering in the next few blog posts.

Thuraya coverage

I was just wondering: has anyone visiting this blog been using a Thuraya phone in Australia? How is the Thuraya coverage in Australia and/or in surrounding areas? Are coastal waters covered?

Satellite phones cheaper than GSM roaming?

I’ve been looking at the sateliite phone market for some time. Both equipment costs and call costs have dropped significantly through the years. That’s no surprise you might think. True. But, I mean, they really have dropped.

Although the only truly global satellite phone provider, Iridium, is still pretty costly to use, it is not the only alternative. I visited lately the Thuraya (local satellite phone service provider) website and to my shock(!) satellite phone calling costs can be quite… reasonable.

A call from a Thuraya phone to any destination in the world costs from $1.25 to $1.49 per minute (calls to another Thuraya phone are even somewhat cheaper). What’s more – the Thuraya satellite phones can have integrated GSM capabilities, which means you can swap to SAT/GSM mode whichever you find cheaper or more practical.

Now there are some minuses to all this hype. First, the satephone itself can be pretty expensive (circa $1000 for a phone) and secondly, though the satellite phone coverage area (check link for map) is huge and covers a nice part of the world, you cannot make satellite phone calls indoors or in your car without a special external antenna.

Well, it seems the satellite phone market is becoming more interesting after a dreadful time it went through a few years ago. We’ll see where it goes from here.

RFID chips dangerous?

There has been some news that implanting RFID chips under human or animal skin can cause tumours to develop. Although this information has not yet been proven, the news already has had an impact on the business. The leading producer of RFID chips – VeriChip reported a significant drop of it’s stock from 6$ a share to 3,5$.

This is another obstacle for the RFID chip market. The technology will have to face not only an attack from those of us concerned about privacy or moral issues, but now answer an even more significant question – can the chip cause harm to it’s potential users?

So why are people afraid of technology?

Is it the time you need to put in to learn it? Is it the money you have to put into it? Or maybe is it the fear you won’t find it useful or will not be able to manage it?

Why are people scared of technology? Are they? It struck me some time ago that the problem is quite simple: most of us don’t like experimenting. We need some kind of authority – a friend, a newspaper article a review found on a website. We listen to the advice, we believe it and only then we act. We buy a new phone, a new gadget or invest in some more sophisticated technology. This is as true as it comes to the food we eat, the religion we believe, the politicians we vote for, the cars we buy.

We come to the edge, but if nobody pushes us we will never jump.

Come to the edge

‘Come to the edge’, he said.

They said, ‘We are afraid.’
‘Come to the edge’, he said.
They came.
He pushed them …
and they flew.

– Guillaume Apollinaire

It’s normal to get a bit dizzy when you look down. You’re at the edge and it’s no shame to be affraid. But you’ll never learn to fly if you’re too scared to get anywhere near. You have a marvelous opportunity to fly – you have the wings of technology. Get them. Use them. Do not be affraid.