Iridium is the world's only truly global mobile satellite communications company, with voice and data solutions covering every inch of the earth's surface. Reaching over oceans, through airways and across the Polar Regions, Iridium solutions are ideally suited for industries such as maritime, aviation, government/military, emergency/humanitarian services, mining, forestry, oil and gas, heavy. A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a satphone is that its use is not limited to areas covered by cell towers; it can be used in most or all geographic locations on the Earth's surface.
Satellite phone in use in, in April 2005 after theA satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of that connects to other phones or the by radio through orbiting instead of terrestrial, as do. The advantage of a satphone is that its use is not limited to areas covered by cell towers; it can be used in most or all geographic locations on the Earth's surface.The mobile equipment, also known as a terminal, varies widely. Early satellite phone handsets had a size and weight comparable to that of a, but usually with a large retractable. More recent satellite phones are similar in size to a regular mobile phone while some satellite phones have no distinguishable difference from an ordinary. Satphones are popular on expeditions into remote areas where terrestrial cellular service is unavailable.A fixed installation, such as one used aboard a ship, may include large, rugged, rack-mounted electronics, and a steerable antenna on the mast that automatically tracks the overhead satellites.
Smaller installations using over a two-way service such as or bring the costs within the reach of leisure vessel owners. Service satellite phones have notoriously poor reception indoors, though it may be possible to get a consistent signal near a window or in the top floor of a building if the roof is sufficiently thin. The phones have connectors for external antennas that can be installed in vehicles and buildings. The systems also allow for the use of repeaters, much like terrestrial mobile phone systems. Contents.Satellite phone network Geostationary satellites Some satellite phones use satellites in, which appear at a fixed position in the sky. These systems can maintain near-continuous global coverage with only three or four satellites, reducing the launch costs. The satellites used for these systems are very heavy (about 5000 kg) and expensive to build and launch.
The satellites sit at an altitude of 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi); a noticeable delay is present while making a phone call or using data services due to the large distance from users. The amount of bandwidth available on these systems is substantially higher than that of the (LEO) systems; all three active systems provide portable satellite Internet using laptop-sized terminals with speeds ranging from 60 to 512 kbit per second.Geostationary satellite phones can only be used at lower latitudes, generally between 70 degrees north of the equator and 70 degrees south of the equator. At higher latitudes the satellite appears at such a low angle in the sky that from terrestrial sources in the same frequency bands can interfere with the signal.Another disadvantage of geostationary satellite systems is that in many areas—even where a large amount of open sky is present—the line-of-sight between the phone and the satellite is broken by obstacles such as steep hills and forest. The user will need to find an area with line-of-sight before using the phone. This is not the case with LEO services: even if the signal is blocked by an obstacle, one can wait a few minutes until another satellite passes overhead, but a moving LEO satellite may drop a call when line of sight is lost.: This former Indonesia-based small regional operator provided voice and data services in, and using a single satellite.
It ceased operations in 2014.: The oldest satellite phone operator, a British company founded in 1979. It originally provided large fixed installations for, but has recently entered the market of hand-held phones in a joint venture with ACeS. The company operates eleven satellites.
Coverage is available on most of the Earth, except polar regions.: Established in 1997, United Arab Emirates-based Thuraya's satellites provide coverage across, the, and. /: An American satellite-phone company that uses equipment similar to, but plans to launch a service using hand-held devices in the similar to 's.: Satellite-phone system for.: An American satellite-phone company which has launched a single geosynchronous satellite, not yet active.Low Earth orbit LEO satphones utilize in (LEO). The advantages include providing wireless coverage with no gaps.
LEO satellites orbit the Earth in high-, low- orbits with an orbital time of 70–100, an altitude of 640 to 1120 kilometers (400 to 700 miles). Since the satellites are not, they move with respect to the ground.
A given satellite is only in view of a phone for a short time, so the call must be 'handed off' electronically to another satellite when one passes beyond the local horizon. Depending on the positions of both the satellite and terminal, a usable of an individual LEO satellite will typically last 4–15 minutes on average. At least one satellite must have line-of-sight to every coverage area at all times to guarantee coverage; thus a constellation of satellites, typically 40 to 70, is required to maintain worldwide coverage.Two such systems, both based in the, started in the late 1990s, but soon went into bankruptcy after failing to gain enough subscribers to fund launch costs. They are now operated by new owners who bought the assets for a fraction of their original cost and are now both planning to launch replacement constellations supporting higher bandwidth. Data speeds for current networks are between 2200 and 9600 bit/s using a satellite handset.: A network covering most of the world's landmass using 44 active satellites. However, many areas are left without coverage, since a satellite must be in range of an.
Satellites fly in an of 52 degrees, so polar regions cannot be covered. The network went into limited commercial service at the end of 1999.: A network operating 66 satellites in a that claims coverage everywhere on Earth. Commercial service started in November 1998 and fell into in August 1999.
In 2001, service was re-established. Radio cross-links are used between satellites to relay data to the nearest satellite with a connection to an Earth station.: An American network.Tracking LEO systems have the ability to track a mobile unit's location using calculations from the satellite. However, this method can be inaccurate by tens of kilometers. On some Iridium hardware the coordinates can be extracted using, while recent Globalstar handsets will display them on the screen.Most VSAT terminals can be reprogrammed in-field using AT-commands to bypass automatic acquisition of GPS coordinates and instead accept manually injected GPS coordinates.Countries with restrictions on use of satellite phones In some countries, possession of a satellite phone is illegal. Their signals will usually bypass local telecoms systems, hindering and attempts, which has led intelligence agencies to believe that satellite phones aid terrorist activity. It is also common for restrictions to be in place in countries that are run by oppressive governments regimes as a way to both expose subversive agents within their country and maximize the control of the information that makes it past their borders.
Burma. China – became the first company permitted to sell satellite phones in 2016. Began selling satellite phones in 2018 and six other satellite phone companies expressed their interest in entering the Chinese market shortly after.
Cuba. India – only -based satellite services are permitted within territories and areas under Indian jurisdiction. Importation and operation of all other satellite services, including and, is illegal. International shipping is obliged to comply with Indian Directorate-General of Shipping (DGS) Order No. 02 of 2012 which makes the unauthorised import and operation of Thuraya, Iridium and other such satellite phones illegal in waters which are within Indian jurisdiction. The legislation to this effect is Section 6 of Indian Wireless Act and Section 20 of Indian Telegraph Act. Satphones on displayWhile it is possible to obtain used handsets for the Thuraya, Iridium, and Globalstar networks for approximately US$200, the newest handsets are quite expensive.
The Iridium 9505A, released in 2001, sold in March 2010 for over US$1,000. Satellite phones are purpose-built for one particular network and cannot be switched to other networks.
The price of handsets varies with network performance. If a satellite phone provider encounters trouble with its network, handset prices will fall, then increase once new satellites are launched. Similarly, handset prices will increase when calling rates are reduced.Among the most expensive satellite phones are terminals, often costing several thousand US dollars. These phones provide broadband Internet and voice communications. Satellite phones are sometimes subsidised by the provider if one signs a post-paid contract, but subsidies are usually only a few hundred US dollars or less.Since most satellite phones are built under license or the manufacturing of handsets is contracted out to, operators have a large influence over the selling price. Satellite networks operate under, making it difficult for manufacturers to independently make handsets.A startup is proposing the use of standard technology in satellites to enable low bandwidth text message with satellites from cheap mobile phones.
Virtual country codes. See also: andSatellite phones are usually issued with numbers in a special.satellite phones are issued with codes +870.
In the past, additional country codes were allocated to different satellites, but the codes +871 to +874 were phased out at the end of 2008 leaving Inmarsat users with the same country code, regardless of which satellite their terminal is registered with.Low Earth orbit systems including some of the defunct ones have been allocated number ranges in the 's virtual country code +881. Iridium satellite phones are issued with codes +881 6 and +881 7., although allocated +881 8 and +881 9 use except for service resellers located in, which use the +881 range.Small regional satellite phone networks are allocated numbers in the +882 code designated for ' which is not used exclusively for satellite phone networks.Calling cost The cost of making voice calls from a satellite phone varies from around $0.15 to $2 per minute, while calling them from and regular is more expensive. Costs for data transmissions (particularly broadband data) can be much higher.
Rates from landlines and mobile phones range from $3 to $14 per minute with Iridium, Thuraya and Inmarsat being some of the most expensive networks to call. The receiver of the call pays nothing, unless they are being called via a special reverse-charge service.Making calls between different satellite phone networks is often similarly expensive, with calling rates of up to $15 per minute.Calls from satellite phones to landlines are usually around $0.80 to $1.50 per minute unless special offers are used.
Such promotions are usually bound to a particular geographic area where traffic is low.Most satellite phone networks have pre-paid plans, with vouchers ranging from $100 to $5,000.Use in disaster response. See also:Most mobile telephone networks operate close to capacity during normal times, and large spikes in call volumes caused by widespread emergencies often overload the systems when they are needed most.
Examples reported in the media where this has occurred include the, the, the, the, the, the, and the. Reporters and journalists have also been using satellite phones to communicate and report on events in war zones such as Iraq.Terrestrial cell antennas and networks can be damaged by natural disasters. Satellite telephony can avoid this problem and be useful during natural disasters. Satellite phone networks themselves are prone to congestion as satellites and spot beams cover a large area with relatively few voice channels.History. Archived from on January 1, 2010. Archived from on January 3, 2010.
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(satellite phone services and equipment reviews, non-commercial). (technical).