Thread: Remote communication

Hi,

I'm looking at ways of accessing the internet and sending photos and written articles via email from the middle of nowhere.

I've looked at Satellite phones and BGAN Satellite devices. I could probably swing the price for a unit, but the associated service plans (especially if you want to send photo's) are super pricey. We're talking around $5 USD per Megabyte of data.

Is it simply a matter of "you've gotta pay to play" or are there cheaper ways of achieving what I'm trying to do?

Cheers,
AJ

cheapest way would be hunting/camping in auckland city. plenty of cats etc to shoot. not very much un-tarnished scenery to behold though.

PM @mikee

Originally Posted by Frodo

Hi,

I'm looking at ways of accessing the internet and sending photos and written articles via email from the middle of nowhere.

I've looked at Satellite phones and BGAN Satellite devices. I could probably swing the price for a unit, but the associated service plans (especially if you want to send photo's) are super pricey. We're talking around $5 USD per Megabyte of data.

Is it simply a matter of "you've gotta pay to play" or are there cheaper ways of achieving what I'm trying to do?

Cheers,
AJ

Yep you gota pay to play unfortunately, all plans have fish hooks to be aware of. An example is FleetOne unit. There is no free lunch and not enough ubscribers to bring costs down to "mobile phone prices"
Most people / companies choose the cheapest plan which is (iirc )about $300us a month and includes 200MB data + 30mins calls
Now if you go over your data cap then it is $25USD per Meg................................ouch
another thing to be aware of is Windows 10 etc is always looking for or downloading updates behind the scene so it is very easy to go "over" your data cap significantley as most devices these days are geared towards unlimited data plans.
Iridium is cheapest, actually if you activate your iridium thru Pivitel in Australia and have free calling to Australia you can generally call the satphone from NZ for free due to the way the hanset is activated..
Iridium also has slowest data rate of about 9600 baud (old dial up speeds) and prone to dropping the connection at times

How is all this shit so expensive yet I have sattelite internet at my house for $100 a month unlimited useage..?
AJ, if you want you can stick the sattelite off my roof on the back of your pack and take my modem and I will only charge you $200 a month, since real men get by on one teabag a day and dont need this electronic wizardry youre also going to have to hand in your mancard, your classic M98 Mauser 270, and pop down to guncity and pick yourself up a nice new plastic gun, T3 would be my reccomendation, 708, 308, or if you want to go extra trendy then 6.5 creedmore is the ticket

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

How is all this shit so expensive yet I have sattelite internet at my house for $100 a month unlimited useage..?
AJ, if you want you can stick the sattelite off my roof on the back of your pack and take my modem and I will only charge you $200 a month, since real men get by on one teabag a day and dont need this electronic wizardry youre also going to have to hand in your mancard, your classic M98 Mauser 270, and pop down to guncity and pick yourself up a nice new plastic gun, T3 would be my reccomendation, 708, 308, or if you want to go extra trendy then 6.5 creedmore is the ticket

Hey man, thats un called for. .308 is fine!

Have you talked to Wireless Nation? They do Satelite, and have a monthly plan. I don't think it should matter how remote you are, as long as you have LOS to the satelite.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

How is all this shit so expensive yet I have sattelite internet at my house for $100 a month unlimited useage..?
AJ, if you want you can stick the sattelite off my roof on the back of your pack and take my modem and I will only charge you $200 a month, since real men get by on one teabag a day and dont need this electronic wizardry youre also going to have to hand in your mancard, your classic M98 Mauser 270, and pop down to guncity and pick yourself up a nice new plastic gun, T3 would be my reccomendation, 708, 308, or if you want to go extra trendy then 6.5 creedmore is the ticket

Sat internet is only download copper upload so still need a phone connection

Originally Posted by gonebush

Sat internet is only download copper upload so still need a phone connection

We dont have a phone connection so not quite sure how that works and the modem plugs into the sattelite and thats it, connects to computer etc via bluetooth

I've come up with another plan. Thanks guys. Cheers for the detailed response @mikee.

Share this "other plan".....

Originally Posted by Gerbs

Share this "other plan".....

Carrier pigeon

https://wirelessnation.co.nz/rural/products/satellite I don't think routers WN use need a phone line. There are some places out here in Reporoa that don't have phone lines that have WN satelites and they work. And it looks like they are trialing Unlimited data for their satelites.

@mjmatsen what are the speeds like? Any real world experience of the satellite Internet recently? I remember it was rubbish back in the day but like all things I would expect it to improve. We have Vodafone Rural wireless broadband and it is lightning fast but we have a very annoying 120gb datacap.

We had some tests that were giving a minimum of 10mb down, I don't remember the up, and as always, your ping will be like 130ms due to the round trip. WN can even use the old farmside dishes with a new box. I think their tech will just get better and better... You will just never overcome the ping, as that's a problem with physics.