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New Service Turns Iridium Satellites into Extremely Slow Wi-Fi Hotspots

Posted: 08th Sep, 2011 By: MarkJ
Iridium NEXT satellite dishGlobal Satellite operator Iridium has announced a new range of products that, as part of its 'Iridium Force™' initiative, will allow Wi-Fi enabled Smartphones, Tablets and Laptops to go online anywhere in the world via the operators network.

Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said:

"Iridium pioneered the satellite phone industry more than 10 years ago with the first handheld, commercial satellite phone. With Iridium Force, we are leading an industry transformation once again by significantly extending the universe of handheld connectivity options. Iridium Force is our strategic vision for rapidly connecting more people in ways never thought possible — even going beyond the limits of our own devices."

Sadly there is a catch. Iridium's current network, which won't be properly upgraded until the launch of its new Iridium NEXT satellite's in 2015 (more details), will only be able to deliver this Wi-Fi based internet connectivity at a speed of 2.4Kbps (Kilobits per second) :shocked: .
Iridium AxcessPoint

Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, tablets and laptops will be able to connect anywhere through the Iridium network. Iridium AxcessPoint is a portable and lightweight Wi-Fi hotspot accessory that easily connects BlackBerry and Android devices to the Iridium network using an Iridium Extreme or Iridium 9555 satellite phone.

iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, and Windows and Mac laptops, will need to download the new, free Iridium AxcessPoint Mail & Web application. Iridium AxcessPoint is expected to be available in fourth quarter of 2011 with a suggested retail price of less than $200 (USD).


Iridium AxcessPoint Connect

Created for Iridium phone users travelling with laptops, this downloadable application for use with the Iridium Direct Internet software connectivity tool turns any Windows laptop into a global Wi-Fi hotspot when connected to an Iridium Extreme or Iridium 9555 satellite phone.

Iridium AxcessPoint Connect enables Wi-Fi compatible devices, such as smartphones, to synchronize and respond to email or use the Internet over the Iridium network. Users can download Iridium AxcessPoint Connect and Direct Internet applications free of charge.
Admittedly Iridium's current platform was never intended to be used for such purposes but, according to a quote on ZDNet, the operator's CEO is adamant that a speed of 2.4Kbps will still be enough to send and receive emails or do some light web surfing. Hah. Good luck with that.

The service can at least improve upon this by using compression technology, although that can only take you so far and as a result many web-based apps, services or other data intensive tasks (e.g. Google Maps etc.) will be blocked. Broadband it most definitely is not.
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