It's really a shame. Iridium could sell best-effort hobbyist-grade service in their excess capacity, which would get the hardware into people's hands, but they

It's really a shame. Iridium could sell best-effort hobbyist-grade service in their excess capacity, which would get the hardware into people's hands, but they don't. Cynically I assume this is because it would be no different than their expensive service in practice, and cannibalize their premium offerings.