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Wow, that sounds awfully fancy. How much does all of that cost? Subscription required? Seems like Ham would be much cheaper and just as good, funneling local

by Steltek 10y ago

Wow, that sounds awfully fancy. How much does all of that cost? Subscription required? Seems like Ham would be much cheaper and just as good, funneling local emergency communications into more sophisticated setups (that are probably owning and operating satphones for you).

walrus01 10y ago
I think if you find your local 911 call centre/sheriffs office or other major facility that will meet the category of "continuity of essential services", you'll find that it already has several Iridium phones active on standby accounts funded by FEMA/US DHS money. So the money is already being spent. For VSAT, a great deal of the DHS funded geostationary federal government satellite capacity (in terms of chunks of kHz on FDD transponders in space) is already there and being paid for on long term contracts whether it's actively in use or not.
CraigJPerry 10y ago
And also, you can travel with it to India http://m.timesofindia.com/city/kochi/Satellite-phone-spells-trouble-for-US-citizen/articleshow/51847175.cms http://m.timesofindia.com/city/kochi/Satellite-phone-spells-...
- walrus01 10y ago
  I know more than ten people who've been to India with Iridium phones and no problems. They're "technically" against the law in the same way that 80% of the adult content on the Internet is in violation of Indian law. There's all kinds of stuff that's technically illegal in India and laws that everybody ignores in daily practice. What you're looking at in that news article is the end result of a failed bribery/shakedown attempt by corrupt Indian police and a stupid white foreigner who was too dumb to know when to pay Rs1000.
  - baytrailcat 10y ago
    I wouldn't put it in the same category as porn. Indian authorities are pretty paranoid about satellite phones since it is the preferred form of communication of terrorists. Bribing doesn't work always, especially when dealing with central-government authorities.
    - ape4 10y ago
      That's the reason for the ban?
      - baytrailcat 10y ago
        Yes. It was discovered to be used by terrorists in the past (esp. the 2008 Mumbai attacks).
        walrus01 10y ago
        No, it's the government's excuse to crack down on foreign journalists poking their noses into places where they don't want them to go (Maoist insurgencies, for example). Getting a "burner" phone in India on GSM networks is ridiculously easy and costs about ten bucks. Actual terrorists like Laskar-e-Taiba are well aware that using a satellite phone is one of the quickest and most effective ways to get your calls listened to by the NSA. Iridium has effectively zero security and all of its calls pass through a few centralized gateways.

by Steltek 10y ago

walrus01 10y ago

I think if you find your local 911 call centre/sheriffs office or other major facility that will meet the category of "continuity of essential services", you'll find that it already has several Iridium phones active on standby accounts funded by FEMA/US DHS money. So the money is already being spent. For VSAT, a great deal of the DHS funded geostationary federal government satellite capacity (in terms of chunks of kHz on FDD transponders in space) is already there and being paid for on long term contracts whether it's actively in use or not.

CraigJPerry 10y ago

And also, you can travel with it to India http://m.timesofindia.com/city/kochi/Satellite-phone-spells-trouble-for-US-citizen/articleshow/51847175.cms http://m.timesofindia.com/city/kochi/Satellite-phone-spells-...

walrus01 10y ago
I know more than ten people who've been to India with Iridium phones and no problems. They're "technically" against the law in the same way that 80% of the adult content on the Internet is in violation of Indian law. There's all kinds of stuff that's technically illegal in India and laws that everybody ignores in daily practice. What you're looking at in that news article is the end result of a failed bribery/shakedown attempt by corrupt Indian police and a stupid white foreigner who was too dumb to know when to pay Rs1000.
- baytrailcat 10y ago
  I wouldn't put it in the same category as porn. Indian authorities are pretty paranoid about satellite phones since it is the preferred form of communication of terrorists. Bribing doesn't work always, especially when dealing with central-government authorities.
  - ape4 10y ago
    That's the reason for the ban?
    - baytrailcat 10y ago
      Yes. It was discovered to be used by terrorists in the past (esp. the 2008 Mumbai attacks).
      - walrus01 10y ago
        No, it's the government's excuse to crack down on foreign journalists poking their noses into places where they don't want them to go (Maoist insurgencies, for example). Getting a "burner" phone in India on GSM networks is ridiculously easy and costs about ten bucks. Actual terrorists like Laskar-e-Taiba are well aware that using a satellite phone is one of the quickest and most effective ways to get your calls listened to by the NSA. Iridium has effectively zero security and all of its calls pass through a few centralized gateways.