Category: Cell Phone Talk
Curious, I was just reading about satellite phones, and I'm thinking why aren't these things commercial? For those who may not know, a satellite phone can be used to make and receive calls anywhere in the world, because the signal comes from man-made sattellites that orbit the earth. So one doesn't have to worry about being off-grid if they're in another country.
They can be purchased by consumers if they wish, but as far as I know they are cost
prohibitive in terms of airtime, the reason perhaps being that satellites have a fixed
number of transponders that can communicate with such phones. Cell phones, on the
other hand, have a much wider range of frequencies they can use, and can use a more
precise frequency as far as I understand it, and also frequencies can be re-used (that is,
one tower can talk to a cell phone on one frequency while the next tower over can talk to
another cell on that same identical frequency, but because the transmissions are digitized
and of sufficiently low power, there is no interference.
This is how I understand it anyways, please correct me if I am wrong.
To add a little more, I believe satellite airtime rates are upwards of $5 per minute, I have
seen some closer to $10. This was a few years ago when I checked into this. The one
great advantage is worldwide coverage, whether one is in the middle of the ocean or in
the air, or perhaps in the Arctic where there is no hope ever of cell coverage being put in
by a wireless carrier. Generally, in populated areas, a satellite phone would not be
worthwhile, but certainly in a marine, aeronautical or rural setting they are ideal and
many businesses do use them.
Some individuals, such as those who wish to hike into remote areas, sail across the world,
fly their own little planes, etc, would also have a need to purchase these phones and use
them in cases of emergency or sparingly to keep in contact. It's the cost that keeps their
adoption rate low.
Gotcha.