A new satellite service from Inmarsat
(HumanEdgeTech/Tom Sjogren) For years Inmarsat has been the go-to place for explorers looking for faster data speed over satellite.
To upload video your choices were either 2.4kb/s offered by Iridium, or 15kb/s offered by the handheld Thuraya: Inmarsat’s BGAN units saved the day with speeds up to 400kb/s until recently Thuraya IP joined the fast track as well.
Negatives with BGAN and Thuraya IP have been cost of units ($2500 and up), weight/size and expensive data plans.
Starting at around $400 for 3 months and 60 MB Inmarsat offered the cheapest low volume plans. Thuraya was favored by high-volume users such as large outfits for their $3,000 per month “unlimited” plans.
Average buyers usually found the total outlay of $4000 to $7000 plus power way over budget.
A new satellite service from Inmarsat changes the picture.
