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Satellite Email via GPS?
mtm_king asks: "Has anyone had any experience with Magellan GSC 100 Satellite Communicator? It is a GPS that does email. (Their web site pricing and info is out of date.) The GSC costs $850 unit, $130 for case and antenna, another $50 in sign up fees, then it is $30 a month for the service. My parents live full time in Mexico (outside of Todo Santos, cool place) and just have a cell phone which is expensive and flaky ($1.00 a minute+ from the US) . Trying to communicating with them is really frustrating. I am thinking about buying one of these units for them,but it is getting close to some 'serious money' considering I do not know how well it works. I know I could try to get their PC on the internet through the cell phone but considering that they have to stand by a window or go outside to use it, and the cost of an ISP and more minutes on the cell phone...well, I am looking for cheaper/more reliable alternatives than that." Would the GSC really work better in this case than using the cell phone modem?
The world's first handheld satellite communicator! The Magellan GSC 100 allows you to send and receive e-mail, text messages to and from anywhere in the world using the revolutionary ORBCOMM Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite system. The GSC 100 also has a fully-functional GPS receiver to help you navigate and pinpoint your location anywhere in the world.
With the Magellan GSC 100, far from home no longer means being out of touch. Unlike traditional land-line, cellular or paging systems, the GSC 100 and ORBCOMM network operate from isolated parts of the world where conventional systems do not reach. As a result, remote workers, outdoor enthusiasts and international travelers can communicate anywhere in the world.
ORBCOMM SATELLITE SYSTEM
The Magellan GSC 100 uses the ORBCOMM satellite system to transmit messages around the world. ORBCOMM is a constellation of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites that enables GSC 100 users to send and receive brief, text messages or "GlobalGrams" using standard e-mail protocols.
When the user sends a GlobalGram, the message travels directly from the GSC 100 to the ORBCOMM satellite, down to a Gateway Earth Station (GES), and on to the Internet through normal terrestrial land-lines. To retrieve messages, the user simply requests a message check from the satellite and the message automatically transmits down to the GSC 100.
GSC 100 AND ORBCOMM COVERAGE
The GSC 100 has global capability and can be used from anywhere on the globe that has authorized the ORBCOMM service. Please check ORBCOMM'S website for a list of authorized countries.
ORBCOMM SERVICE PRICING
ORBCOMM service pricing differs from country to country. Please check with ORBCOMM for further details on individual country service plans.
MESSAGING FORMATS
All messages transmitted via the GSC 100 are called GlobalGrams. The GSC 100 will send and receive messages in one of two formats, depending upon the location of the unit.
A Standard GlobalGram is composed when an ORBCOMM satellite is in sight of both the GSC 100 and GES. The message can contain up to 2000 characters. A Standard GlobalGram is delivered near "real time". As more GESs become operational, standard messages can be sent and received throughout the world.
A Store-and-Forward GlobalGram is composed when the satellite is in sight of the GSC 100 but not the GES. A Store-and-Forward GlobalGram can contain up to 200 characters. The message is stored in the satellite and delivered when a GES is in view.
Please check ORBCOMM'S website for details on sending a GlobalGram.
ORBCOMM VALUE-ADDED SERVICES
ORBCOMM has introduced ORB2You and ORBWeather, value-added services available for the GSC 100. The ORB2You message dispatching service enables virtually anyone to communicate with a GSC 100 user even if they don't have access to E-mail. Individuals can dial toll-free 1-877-ORB2YOU and dictate their message to a dispatch center representative, who will then transmit that message to the GSC 100. Similarly, a GSC 100 user can send a GlobalGram to the dispatch center for delivery to the intended recipient via phone or facsimile.
ORBCOMM's ORBWeather service delivers position-specific weather reports directly to the GSC 100. To receive a weather update, a GSC 100 user would send their GPS position report to the ORBWeather e-mail inbox, and then receive forecast conditions for the current day, the following day and the following evening, in a standard, easy-to-read format.
GSC 100 Advantages
The world's first and only hand-held unit to offer anywhere to anywhere communication and navigation using the ORBCOMM satellite system and GPS system.
No matter where your adventures may take you, global e-mail messaging capabilities allow you to communicate to any Internet e-mail address.
Integrated GPS receiver capabilities allow you to identify your position, plot and track your course, store waypoints and communicate this information to anyone, anywhere in the world.
Messaging Features
Worldwide messaging via ORBCOMM satellite service
Send and receive brief, e-mail messages called GlobalGrams
Easy-to-use, menu-driven interface
Store up to 100 messages and 150 addresses
Automatic wake-up feature sends and receives messages at pre-selected time intervals
GPS Features
Displays position, speed, distance, time-to-go, and more
Continuously points to your destination and keeps you on course
Displays your trip's progress with a track plotter
Stores 200 user-defined waypoints
Relay your present location by inserting GPS position into your GlobalGram message
Ships With:
Telescopic whip antenna
Rechargeable NiCad battery pack
Universal AC converter
Software update cable
Data/power extension cable
Activation instructions
User manual
Quick reference guide
Optional Accessories:
Carrying case
Mounting bracket
Data/power cable
Additional NiCad battery pack
Cigarette lighter adapter
External GPS antenna
PC software kit
AC converter, international plug kit
Optional Antennas:
Fixed Site VHF Antenna
GPS Antenna
Combined GPS/VHF Magnetic Mount Antenna
Combined GPS/VHF Roof Top Mount Antenna
Combined GPS/VHF Trunk Mount Antenna
This looks great. But...
Wha about privacy? Do spammers get access to your most recent coordinates, too?
Can I also access the email from, say, an IMAP account? Where is the email stored?
Other than that, I want one.
I don't get the point. You want to buy a 1000$ unit just to email?! Uploading email just takes a few seconds so it can't be that expensive, can it?
History matters..
At least then you can use it as a phone as well. Also you can sort of send text messages to the phone as well, but not the other way round.
Expensive initially, but has more uses.
Phil
can a place without phone service or Internet access really be?
Face it, buster, your parents are 'square'!
Can you output the data to a computer/PDA? If so it would be pretty trivial to tunnel just about anything through email. $30/month for unlimited internet access is pretty cool, even if it is dirt slow.
Short Message Service messaging is cheap (if not outright free), reliable and compatible with email. Most new phones allow you to send SMS messages to email addresses and not just phone numbers, while you can use the phone companies email to SMS gateways to send email to the handset. Sure there is a character limit (about 250 chars) but for decades people did more with much, much less ("Thnk tlgrph. Stp."). Worst case, send a few messages.
Hope the suggestion helps.
_____________ Blah, blah, this is my sig, yackyty shmakity
A iridium phone costs (after hidious federal taxes) between $1000 and $1800 depending on model. Their cheapy plan, cost $20 per month for service and $1.50 per min - they have a cradel for $150 that makes the thing behave like a slow serial modem. With a good ISP, it you get 4800 baud. They give you a Windows CD that you can use that will compress the stream and use their ISP. I threw it away - and just use SSH for it's compression on a BSD laptop.
The cool thing - is that most plans charge by ten second increments. Volume plans can get you down to $.60 a min.
Also they work greay in an emergency - I had no trouble getting a line on Sep11, but cell and land line diden't work.
Curious thing though - after Sep11 (around the 25th or so) - Iridium calls took an extra five seconds to connect. I think shady people were being monitered by our frinds at the NSA. Or I could just need to re-adjust my foil hat.
Sorry 'bout the rambeling. I need coffee.
Oh - the best thing about Iridium VS Garmond: You family can use it in an emergency, when communiction is a life saver and not just a novilty for email.
Good luck - sounds like a cool project and I admire you for trying to keep in touch with family.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
He just copied the web page without any attribution.
It's a crime.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
An email sender must first find a satellite than will pass above you in the next 36 hours (IIRC) and send it the message. When the satellite passes above you, if your unit is on it squirts the data down. Otherwise it's lost. You need a separate program to compute satellite passes and there's no inter-satellite communication. Long delays. It's so complex, there's no way Joe Schmuck can send you an email.
From a moving unit to a ground based station is a little easier: keep your unit on until a satellite passes overhead, that's all.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
GPS Satellites do not carry any extraneous information, such as data streams to carry e-mail, etc. If Magellan's unit provides communicaion abilities, it will be with other similar units, or through a 3rd party provider, such as a cellular phone company, the latter being more probable. If they are using a 3rd party provider, does their provider extend their service into Mexico?
I know there are several projects to extend the reach of the internet into technologically dead areas of the world. And while I don't know all of the details, I know there has been an effort to use HAM radio as a transmission medium to connect computers in areas where they have poor or no communication infrastructure. Perhaps a better 'Ask Slashdot' would be to pose the question of how to connect when there are no local ISPs.
I haven't lost my mind!
It is backed up on disk...somewhere...
Are they living in a boat? Great surfing at Todos, although I haven't been there in about 6 years.
GO see Y Tu Mamá Tambièn and see what these thugs and pals of Vicente Fox do, they OPRESS THE PEOPLE. The rich kid in this film shows you for who you are, while you oppress us in the country side with your M16 carrying police who brow beat and destroy us!
YOU ARE AN OPRESSOR. You live on the sweat and tears of the Mexican people. You think you should get answers from us? How about this, tell you and your rapist parents to double the pay of their slaves from $1 a day to $2. You are a thief and a liar.
Talk about serious money. I'll talk about my long lost cousin, Rosita Conchita Manita Mañero! She died in a hospital for the rich people in Mexico. This doctor wouldn't treat her because she wasn't rich. I remember. I know. I know what you and your bourgeois friends and Vicente Fox want. You want our BLOOD. MEURTE!
We will not be oppressed in heaven, blessed be Jesus, who will send you evil doers all to hell for you RAPE! Your parents RAPE us! RAPISTS!
See a recient ./ question about starband. Seems like the costs are only slightly more, but you get a true internet connection, and it has been around longer.