Globalstar Sat-Fi Turns Wi-Fi Devices Into Satellite Phones

[exfileme]

Here's a way to stay connected when traveling outside your wireless carrier's network.

Globalstar Sat-Fi Turns Wi-Fi Devices Into Satellite Phones : Read more

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

This is amazing! My Father and I will go hunting for a week or two in AK, and there is no one around and cell phone service.. FORGET ABOUT IT!

 

[Simelane]

This will fail faster than Iridium... I don't know what you people in North America smoke, but here in the rest of the world, where we use real Satellite Phones, we can tell you that if there is no GSM roaming service... there is definitely going to be no Wi-Fi service.

 

[Floflo81]

This will fail faster than Iridium... I don't know what you people in North America smoke, but here in the rest of the world, where we use real Satellite Phones, we can tell you that if there is no GSM roaming service... there is definitely going to be no Wi-Fi service.

... I don't know if you're serious or just joking.But just in case: do you know what a Wi-Fi hotspot is?

 

[Blazer1985]

Actually the title seems to be pretty misleading.. Looks like you get kind of a satellite phone/wireless router that for a yearly subscription of one gazillion allowes you to speak with other people through your wifi enabled/app supported device. Kind of.

 

[Blazer1985]

Or, if you prefer, one fifillion per minute and strange enough rules. At least that's what the market offers righr now, let's hope in something new.

 

[teh_chem]

This will fail faster than Iridium... I don't know what you people in North America smoke, but here in the rest of the world, where we use real Satellite Phones, we can tell you that if there is no GSM roaming service... there is definitely going to be no Wi-Fi service.

The source didn't explain it very well, but I inferred that with this service, you get a satellite-signal-based wifi device, with which you can connect your phone/device via wifi, and then through some hocus-pocus magic, I assume/hope people would be able to reach you at your same phone number, and you'd be able to dial out with your same number.That being said, I am finding it difficult to see how this will make it to the prime-time. The potential market must be so small, I don't see how it would be affordable--if it even makes it through regulation and then the ability to integrate with cell providers, looks like an impossible battle.

 

[southernshark]

I've got some questions about this service. First of all, where will it work?I lived in Northern Alaska for a couple years and looked into Sat internet service. The only company that provided coverage up there was HughesNet, which used the high orbit satellites. With those, because of the distances involved, VOiP did not work. You could get fast downloads but the ping was so high that gaming and voice over didn't work. Now the low orbit sat services work better, or so I'm told but the coverage area is much smaller.

There are a couple companies that provide low orbit satellite service, but they don't cover the entire globe. In fact, most of the satellite internet companies you see advertised on the net use low orbit satellites, which are superior where they provide coverage, but they aren't global. There are large parts of the Northern Hemisphere and even larger parts of the Southern Hemisphere which have no coverage, and probably won't anytime soon. Only the companies, like HughesNet which use high orbit satellites can cover the entire globe (at least at present).

So we need a lot more details than this provides. What kind of satellites will it use and where will they be located (high or low orbit)? What is the coverage area?