Comments on: Iridium Satellite Phone as Modem on OS X http://kenmankoff.com/2008/12/29/iridium-satellite-phone-as-modem-on-os-x Antarctica, My PhD, Life, Stuff, etc. Tue, 01 May 2012 09:37:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Ken Mankoff http://kenmankoff.com/2008/12/29/iridium-satellite-phone-as-modem-on-os-x/comment-page-1#comment-11057 Ken Mankoff Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:58:39 +0000 http://kenmankoff.com/?p=1315#comment-11057 The Iridium modem I had was far too slow for video. One low quality photo would take about a minute to upload. I don't think this would work for you. There are faster Iridium modems, but you are still using modem technology from the late 1980s. There are also other companies (GlobalStar, InMarSat) with much higher bandwidth that you should look into. We were forced to use Iridium because we were so far south the other satellites don't provide coverage there. They will provide coverage in the areas you mentioned. Costs are quite high. You should consider waiting until you get to local internet cafes and upload from there. The Iridium modem I had was far too slow for video. One low quality photo would take about a minute to upload. I don’t think this would work for you. There are faster Iridium modems, but you are still using modem technology from the late 1980s. There are also other companies (GlobalStar, InMarSat) with much higher bandwidth that you should look into. We were forced to use Iridium because we were so far south the other satellites don’t provide coverage there. They will provide coverage in the areas you mentioned. Costs are quite high. You should consider waiting until you get to local internet cafes and upload from there.

]]> By: Karen http://kenmankoff.com/2008/12/29/iridium-satellite-phone-as-modem-on-os-x/comment-page-1#comment-11055 Karen Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:14:31 +0000 http://kenmankoff.com/?p=1315#comment-11055 I'm planning some trips to the middle of nowhere (Africa, Mongolia, Amazon) and am looking for a way to upload posts, photos and videos to my blog in the field. Is this a viable and consistent way to do it? Do you have any other suggestions? Karen I’m planning some trips to the middle of nowhere (Africa, Mongolia, Amazon) and am looking for a way to upload posts, photos and videos to my blog in the field.
Is this a viable and consistent way to do it? Do you have any other suggestions?

Karen

]]> By: Ken Mankoff http://kenmankoff.com/2008/12/29/iridium-satellite-phone-as-modem-on-os-x/comment-page-1#comment-8417 Ken Mankoff Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:39:17 +0000 http://kenmankoff.com/?p=1315#comment-8417 I don't remember the exact speeds, but it was awfully slow. Something like 0.5KB/s or ~500 B/s. I remember thinking it was not much faster than I can type... I know at the time (~2 years ago) they had a faster modem but I did not have that one. Techniques to use the internet at those speeds are: Quit all software (don't want Firefox or iTunes downloading stuff in the background). Turn off system updates so the OS doesn't try to download anything. Quit *everything* but one or two terminals. Be aware that even a small widget in your menu bar is probably wasting valuable bandwidth. Use a terminal and lynx/links for web access. Pre-bookmark (in lynx/links) the mobile/WAP versions of sites. Even if you aren't getting graphics, all the text, css, and js files add up For email, use a command-line client: Fetchmail, pine/alpine, mutt, gnus, etc. With this setup I could do most of what I needed to do. I could write as much email as I wanted, but it took 30 seconds just to sent one email. I could read emails if people sent them plain-text without attachments. I could google things I needed to find. I even downloaded some small software (minicom @ ~700KB) but that took over an hour and multiple re-connects, so you'll want to be comfortable using wget or curl with the continue options. If you can get Inmarsat your bandwidth will be much higher, but we were in locations not covered by Inmarsat. If you are within a few 10s of km of shoreline you might even get a cell signal. Good luck and please post back with any advice / tips / stories you have. I don’t remember the exact speeds, but it was awfully slow. Something like 0.5KB/s or ~500 B/s. I remember thinking it was not much faster than I can type…

I know at the time (~2 years ago) they had a faster modem but I did not have that one.

Techniques to use the internet at those speeds are:

Quit all software (don’t want Firefox or iTunes downloading stuff in the background).
Turn off system updates so the OS doesn’t try to download anything.
Quit *everything* but one or two terminals. Be aware that even a small widget in your menu bar is probably wasting valuable bandwidth.
Use a terminal and lynx/links for web access.
Pre-bookmark (in lynx/links) the mobile/WAP versions of sites. Even if you aren’t getting graphics, all the text, css, and js files add up
For email, use a command-line client: Fetchmail, pine/alpine, mutt, gnus, etc.

With this setup I could do most of what I needed to do. I could write as much email as I wanted, but it took 30 seconds just to sent one email. I could read emails if people sent them plain-text without attachments. I could google things I needed to find. I even downloaded some small software (minicom @ ~700KB) but that took over an hour and multiple re-connects, so you’ll want to be comfortable using wget or curl with the continue options.

If you can get Inmarsat your bandwidth will be much higher, but we were in locations not covered by Inmarsat. If you are within a few 10s of km of shoreline you might even get a cell signal.

Good luck and please post back with any advice / tips / stories you have.

]]> By: Sam http://kenmankoff.com/2008/12/29/iridium-satellite-phone-as-modem-on-os-x/comment-page-1#comment-8416 Sam Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:05:43 +0000 http://kenmankoff.com/?p=1315#comment-8416 How fast is the tethered thruput? How fast is the tethered thruput?

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