wrote:
On Aug 4, 1:16�pm, "J. Clarke" wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
�"J. Clarke" wrote:
Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
�"J. Clarke" wrote:
Reed wrote:
snip
BTW, a few years ago I heard of plans for a network of
Low-Earth
Orbit satellites, that would avoid this problem. I wonder what
happened to that?
snip
check here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic
I suspect the project died because it still had excessive
latency,
especially since they had to add an "internal" protocol to the
network because the LEOs are not stationary in the sky. (never
mind the *astronomical* cost(pun intended))
Iridium and Globalstar, both much less ambitious projects, failed
to
even come close to recovering the startup costs. �That being the
case, Teledisc was clearly a non-starter. �People who need that
kind
of service will pay quite a lot for it, but not enough to pay for
800
satellites.
--
Iridium was launched when cell phones were a rarity. If it had
been
launched today, it might have succeeded.
Cell phones are what _killed_ it. �Nobody's going to pay a
buck-thirty a minute for satphone airtime when for a hundred bucks
a
month they can get unlimited cell phone airtime. �The only people
willing to do that are those who have to communicate from somewhere
where there is no cell service.
It's a niche product and the niche isn't big enough to pay for the
launch costs.
--
I see your point, but still I disagree. The whole concept of talking
on a phone while wandering around (by foot, car, or mule) was new,
novel, and somewhat gimmicky. Wireless communication wasn't seen as
a
necessity at all back then, the way it is now.
Iridium missed the paradigm shift. Millions of executives now would
happily pay that price to avoid dead zones and dropped calls. And
the
price would decline as the subscriber based went up.
If "millions of executives" would do this then why does Iridium only
have about 250,000 subscribers?

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

iridium would of done better if it had been owned by a cell company
with a twist.

in no cell service areas, the phone would automatically go to sat
mode.

iridiums big problem, it took so long to get operational by that time
most folks already had cell phones, which were smaller, cheaper, more
convenient, and cell service areas were growing.

Chuckle. Right now, over in the sandbox, the satt phone most
contractors, TCNs, and even a lot of USGummint folks carry isn't Iridium
(even though Uncle Sam is a defacto partner in that company, with their
own ground node in Hawaii). It is a Europe/SWA/Africa company known as
Thuraya. Smaller, cheaper (both hardware and minutes), and also supports
GSM cell service where available. Government Iridium handsets are
definitely retro-tech at this point- the charger bases even have a
socket for the old motorola star-tac phones. No idea if they ever came
out with a modernized civilian model.

You don't buy a satt phone to impress people- they are too damn
expensive for that. You buy one, reluctantly, because you NEED one.
First-in comms until you get your dish-in-a-suitcase ground station set
up, and aw-**** comms when the big dish gets blown away or up. But
things are getting better over there- most areas with regular mains
power also have functioning cell systems now. In that third of the
world, what little last-mile copper ever got strung has withered away
badly. A lot a areas never had it, and now most never will.

--
aem sends...