With regards to the Iridium data speed perhaps we should have made it clearer that as stated on the Iridium website “Dial-Up Data is capable of 2.4 Kbps; Direct Internet Data is capable of up to 10 Kbps with compression. Dial-Up Data allows a user to connect directly to their Internet Service Provider or a Corporate Network. Direct Internet Data connects the user directly to the Internet through the Iridium Gateway.”

With our BGAN terminals starting from £1,200 the Iridium 9555 is still a cheaper option. The sat phone option could definitely be classed as “much cheaper” if you choose the Thuraya SO-2510 priced at just £420.00.

Thank you for pointing this out, but Iridium 9555 users can now send and receive long SMS texts up to 1,000 characters in length to an e-mail address or mobile phone which is enough for most users. However you are correct in stating that the message is sent as an SMS but it is delivered as an email to the receiver.

No it doesn’t… Not even close…

You get around 2.4kb (2,400 baud, or 300 characters/sec) out of an Iridium. This assumes a clear view of the sky and perfect 5 bar signal strength…

http://www.mailasail.com/Support/Iridium-Bandwidth

Quote: “a satellite phone will suffice and will be a much cheaper alternative to BGAN”

An Iridium phone at around the £1,000 mark is hardly “much cheaper” than a BGAN at around the £1,000 mark?? For sure one of the Thuraya phones comes in somewhat cheaper, but your generalisation is somewhat inaccurate?

Quote: “Every Iridium … that we stock is capable of sending emails directly from the phone”

Meaning that the Iridium can send SMS messages and if you send the SMS to a special number then you can kind of send a 160 character email (that 160 character limit includes the recipients email address). I think it’s somewhat disingenuous to claim this is the same as “sending emails from the phone” which usually implies a normal email from a normal email address which can be replied to, etc?