5 ms·

Anyone know a good source of info on the Iridium Certus service they are supposed to start offering with this new constellation? Based on the marketing materia

Anyone know a good source of info on the Iridium Certus service they are supposed to start offering with this new constellation? Based on the marketing material I could find it seems like the upstream is only ~350 Kbps even though there are plans to offer 1.4 Mbps downstream service eventually. Hard to understand why someone would pay for that over the other services out there where the upstream bandwidth scales with the downstream.

skybrian 8y ago
Presumably people pay for this when nobody else can provide the coverage they need?
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Presumably people pay for this when nobody else can provide the coverage they need? We have a winner! Speaking as someone who has to regularly do development work from a solar+Jeep-battery-powered satellite internet connection, the more companies that put birds in the air, the better it is for me. Unfortunately, since startup costs as so high, what little increased competition there is isn't really dropping the price/megabyte ratio. Save me, Elon Musk!
  - wuunderbar 8y ago
    What sort of work are you in?
  - ams6110 8y ago
    "Has to?" What do you do, and why do you have no other options?
    - jessriedel 8y ago
      I'm guessing based on context that "development work" means assistance work in developing countries, not software development :)
      - reaperducer 8y ago
        I'm guessing based on context that "development work" means assistance work in developing countries, not software development :) It's actually web development, deployed on fogs (my name for localized temporary clouds) in very poor, very rural communities in the United States. It's the sorts of places where roads are primitive, electricity and clean water are scarce, and internet is a luxury. These settlements are often cut off from the outside world for weeks or months each year due to seasonal (deep snow), or temporary (flash floods) events. "Landline" telephone service, when it exists, is usually via HF radio. If you buy land there, the county makes you sign a document acknowledging that no water, sewer, or medical services are available, and police may take days to get to you. The kinds of places where even FedEx and UPS won't guarantee overnight delivery at any price. The place where I was last week was seven miles from the fringes of the nearest cell service. But it had pretty fast wifi, thanks to a fixed-microwave link on a single pole stuck 40 feet into the air. Every time a breeze came along, the pole would sway, the dish at the top would go out of alignment, and the connection would drop. This is why every time I see someone on HN spout about how "You always get an internet connection by hacking your neighbor's wifi connection" I shake my head. But it's nice to get out of the office every once in a while.
        jessriedel 8y ago
        Thanks for the info!
        ryanwaggoner 8y ago
        I want to hear more! Why are you doing this? Is this a side effect of your job or are you helping these communities? I’d be interested in doing this kind of work, either domestically or internationally.
        reaperducer 8y ago
        Why are you doing this? Money. SV won't hire anyone my age... erm... with my level of experience. And the benefits are ridiculously good. Is this a side effect of your job or are you helping these communities? The company helps these communities. I just push buttons so the people who really do the good work can do that good work. I’d be interested in doing this kind of work, either domestically or internationally. There's a stereotype on HN that all companies exist to make money and that's all. It's simply not true. There are plenty of companies out there that exist to make lives better for other people. My advice is to find a commercial venture that does good things, and has been around for at least a decade. Avoid government and non-profit do-gooder organizations that may get de-funded on a whim. I'm not one of those "I'm going to change the world!" kind of people. If the money wasn't there, I wouldn't be there. But it's nice to overhear the stories of what's being done and how grateful people are to not be forgotten. It's only very rarely that I'm asked to pitch in on the front line, which I mostly find stressful because I'm not good with people. But there are rewarding scenes that stick in the memory and are not easily forgotten.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
rdl 8y ago
I'd be totally fine with this for m2m. Also, iridium covers polar areas, not an option from GEO, and there aren't (any?) other commercial constellation services with south-polar coverage. Admittedly a small market.
hylaride 8y ago
Hard to understand why someone would pay for that over the other services out there where the upstream bandwidth scales with the downstream. Shipping, airplanes, and people/companies otherwise in the middle of nowhere (eg remote mines).
ffwacom 8y ago
Yachts to download weather data ‘grib files’, and email. Costs over a dollar per mb.
- pmorici 8y ago
  Perhaps but you can do the same with BGAN, iDirect, or Kymeta Kyway with better bandwidth this just seems like it has no competitive advantage over competitors except perhaps coverage at the poles.
  - benjohnson 8y ago
    For me, the size of an Iridium terminal is paramount - I can fit one in my pocket where a typical BGAN terminal needs a backpack. As I understand it, Iridium terminals are much more power efficient as their low-earth satellites are orders of magnitudes closer.
    - pmorici 8y ago
      Latency could be an advantage. The New iridium terminals for the higher speed data are larger than BGAN though, at least the couple that I've seen specs on.
  - Robotbeat 8y ago
    Latency.
  - ffwacom 8y ago
    North Pole coverage was the reason.
Havoc 8y ago
> Hard to understand why someone would pay for that Friend was telling me about the cost of internet on a superyacht...holy shiiaatt.
- sverige 8y ago
  But wait, back up a second to the cost of the superyacht itself, then the internet costs are piddling in that frame of reference. And I suspect that the cost of the superyacht is piddling for the kind of person who buys one. The 0.1% really do live in a different world.
  - dzhiurgis 8y ago
    You can buy pretty decent yacht for 50-100k to live in for the rest of your life. Doing web dev over satellite would cost same as on superyacht.
- nixgeek 8y ago
  James Hamilton has blogged on connectivity costs for MV Dirona [1][2][3] on a few occasions, and ISTR his provider KVH is $15000/mo for 150GB allotment at 'Unlimited' speeds (approximately 10Mbps down and 3Mbps up) and $9499/mo for all you can eat at 4Mbps down / 1Mbps up. [1] https://mvdirona.com/2015/08/communications-at-sea/ https://mvdirona.com/2015/08/communications-at-sea/ [2] https://mvdirona.com/2018/04/control-systems-on-dirona/ https://mvdirona.com/2018/04/control-systems-on-dirona/ [3] https://mvdirona.com/2018/03/kvh-v7-hts-twice-the-speed-more-coverage/ https://mvdirona.com/2018/03/kvh-v7-hts-twice-the-speed-more...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

skybrian 8y ago

Presumably people pay for this when nobody else can provide the coverage they need?

reaperducer 8y ago
Presumably people pay for this when nobody else can provide the coverage they need? We have a winner! Speaking as someone who has to regularly do development work from a solar+Jeep-battery-powered satellite internet connection, the more companies that put birds in the air, the better it is for me. Unfortunately, since startup costs as so high, what little increased competition there is isn't really dropping the price/megabyte ratio. Save me, Elon Musk!
- wuunderbar 8y ago
  What sort of work are you in?
- ams6110 8y ago
  "Has to?" What do you do, and why do you have no other options?
  - jessriedel 8y ago
    I'm guessing based on context that "development work" means assistance work in developing countries, not software development :)
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      I'm guessing based on context that "development work" means assistance work in developing countries, not software development :) It's actually web development, deployed on fogs (my name for localized temporary clouds) in very poor, very rural communities in the United States. It's the sorts of places where roads are primitive, electricity and clean water are scarce, and internet is a luxury. These settlements are often cut off from the outside world for weeks or months each year due to seasonal (deep snow), or temporary (flash floods) events. "Landline" telephone service, when it exists, is usually via HF radio. If you buy land there, the county makes you sign a document acknowledging that no water, sewer, or medical services are available, and police may take days to get to you. The kinds of places where even FedEx and UPS won't guarantee overnight delivery at any price. The place where I was last week was seven miles from the fringes of the nearest cell service. But it had pretty fast wifi, thanks to a fixed-microwave link on a single pole stuck 40 feet into the air. Every time a breeze came along, the pole would sway, the dish at the top would go out of alignment, and the connection would drop. This is why every time I see someone on HN spout about how "You always get an internet connection by hacking your neighbor's wifi connection" I shake my head. But it's nice to get out of the office every once in a while.
      - jessriedel 8y ago
        Thanks for the info!
      - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
        I want to hear more! Why are you doing this? Is this a side effect of your job or are you helping these communities? I’d be interested in doing this kind of work, either domestically or internationally.
        reaperducer 8y ago
        Why are you doing this? Money. SV won't hire anyone my age... erm... with my level of experience. And the benefits are ridiculously good. Is this a side effect of your job or are you helping these communities? The company helps these communities. I just push buttons so the people who really do the good work can do that good work. I’d be interested in doing this kind of work, either domestically or internationally. There's a stereotype on HN that all companies exist to make money and that's all. It's simply not true. There are plenty of companies out there that exist to make lives better for other people. My advice is to find a commercial venture that does good things, and has been around for at least a decade. Avoid government and non-profit do-gooder organizations that may get de-funded on a whim. I'm not one of those "I'm going to change the world!" kind of people. If the money wasn't there, I wouldn't be there. But it's nice to overhear the stories of what's being done and how grateful people are to not be forgotten. It's only very rarely that I'm asked to pitch in on the front line, which I mostly find stressful because I'm not good with people. But there are rewarding scenes that stick in the memory and are not easily forgotten.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]

rdl 8y ago

I'd be totally fine with this for m2m. Also, iridium covers polar areas, not an option from GEO, and there aren't (any?) other commercial constellation services with south-polar coverage. Admittedly a small market.

hylaride 8y ago

Hard to understand why someone would pay for that over the other services out there where the upstream bandwidth scales with the downstream. Shipping, airplanes, and people/companies otherwise in the middle of nowhere (eg remote mines).

ffwacom 8y ago

Yachts to download weather data ‘grib files’, and email. Costs over a dollar per mb.

pmorici 8y ago
Perhaps but you can do the same with BGAN, iDirect, or Kymeta Kyway with better bandwidth this just seems like it has no competitive advantage over competitors except perhaps coverage at the poles.
- benjohnson 8y ago
  For me, the size of an Iridium terminal is paramount - I can fit one in my pocket where a typical BGAN terminal needs a backpack. As I understand it, Iridium terminals are much more power efficient as their low-earth satellites are orders of magnitudes closer.
  - pmorici 8y ago
    Latency could be an advantage. The New iridium terminals for the higher speed data are larger than BGAN though, at least the couple that I've seen specs on.
- Robotbeat 8y ago
  Latency.
- ffwacom 8y ago
  North Pole coverage was the reason.

Havoc 8y ago

> Hard to understand why someone would pay for that Friend was telling me about the cost of internet on a superyacht...holy shiiaatt.

sverige 8y ago
But wait, back up a second to the cost of the superyacht itself, then the internet costs are piddling in that frame of reference. And I suspect that the cost of the superyacht is piddling for the kind of person who buys one. The 0.1% really do live in a different world.
- dzhiurgis 8y ago
  You can buy pretty decent yacht for 50-100k to live in for the rest of your life. Doing web dev over satellite would cost same as on superyacht.
nixgeek 8y ago
James Hamilton has blogged on connectivity costs for MV Dirona [1][2][3] on a few occasions, and ISTR his provider KVH is $15000/mo for 150GB allotment at 'Unlimited' speeds (approximately 10Mbps down and 3Mbps up) and $9499/mo for all you can eat at 4Mbps down / 1Mbps up. [1] https://mvdirona.com/2015/08/communications-at-sea/ https://mvdirona.com/2015/08/communications-at-sea/ [2] https://mvdirona.com/2018/04/control-systems-on-dirona/ https://mvdirona.com/2018/04/control-systems-on-dirona/ [3] https://mvdirona.com/2018/03/kvh-v7-hts-twice-the-speed-more-coverage/ https://mvdirona.com/2018/03/kvh-v7-hts-twice-the-speed-more...

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]