This fall I'll be spending 30+ days on a research vessel. While the ship has a variety of satellite communications equipment, bandwidth is severely regulated. Obviously, I would like to stay in contact with my friends and family and keep up on my email beyond the very meger daily allowance of bandwidth the scientific crew is given. Does anyone, especially the military crowd around here, have any recommendations for satellite internet services/companies where I can obtain equipment and service for a less than astronomical cost?

3/24/2008 8:27:47 PM

are you saying that < 10 MB per day is going over the limit? because you can get a fuckton of plain text emails through under that amount

3/24/2008 8:31:48 PM

Satellite Phones are retardely expensive. I can't imagine Satellite internet being any cheaper.

3/24/2008 8:39:05 PM

^^ I'm looking at a 15 KB per day cap unless I want to pay stupidly high data rates in addition to sitting in a prority use queue. They also do most of their data communications in burst transmissions so external data connections are not continuous unless you can convince the technicial officer to set something special up for you.

3/24/2008 9:08:29 PM

Best I can do:

http://www.wildblue.com/

3/24/2008 9:31:43 PM

Marine satellite internet requires a directional dish sealed in a radome, and mounted permanently to the deck. Which it's possible to bitch-rig one of the smaller 33" units to a tripod or such and sit on the deck with a laptop using it, you're looking at $10k+ for the most basic system.

Short answer: there's really no way to do it without paying a fortune.

3/24/2008 9:41:46 PM

Quote :

"I'm looking at a 15 KB per day cap unless I want to pay stupidly high data rates in addition to sitting in a prority use queue. They also do most of their data communications in burst transmissions so external data connections are not continuous unless you can convince the technicial officer to set something special up for you."

well that is ri-god-dam-diculous

i would just tell them that you will see them in 30+ days

3/24/2008 9:44:15 PM

^ That's what I'm leaning towards unless I can find an economic solution.

^^ I've seen systems with small than laptop sized antennas intended for tabletop use that are self-aligning thanks to phased array technology.

I have a friend of a friend who is a soldier in Afghanistan who got a satellite internet setup for a very reasonable price via a company in the UK. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to contact him to get the details.

3/24/2008 9:53:56 PM

Actually, it looks like the new BGAN satellite stuff is a lot cheaper. You're still looking at around $1000 though for a 30-day rental on the equipment and 80MB of bandwidth though.

3/24/2008 9:54:24 PM

^ That's what I've been able to figure out so far. I was hoping for something about 33% of that cost or less. However, that may not exist.

3/24/2008 10:07:41 PM

Can you find out if someone or a group would be willing to split the bill for this stuff? I assume you've already asked the experienced members of the crew (that are still young enough to need the internet) what they do.

3/24/2008 11:34:46 PM

Regardless of what you do, you're going to be paying around $6-7/mb for the data usage. That really rules out most uses other than keeping up with e-mail, and for the price if I were you I'd just do without it for a month. It won't kill you.

3/24/2008 11:56:38 PM

Quote :

"I were you I'd just do without it for a month. It won't kill you."

3/25/2008 12:13:39 AM

^^^ The science crew hasn't been finalized yet and I don't know for sure who from where is even going.

^, ^^ I know I can go without. It's really only a minor inconvience, but I figured I would explore my options nevertheless. It would be kind of fun to post on TWW from the middle of the southeast Pacific.

3/25/2008 1:04:04 AM

[Edited on March 25, 2008 at 3:42 PM. Reason : ]

3/25/2008 3:39:56 PM

bttt

3/26/2008 12:46:31 PM

SAT internet may also not be 24/7 on a mobile vessel as well.

3/26/2008 2:46:07 PM

^ It shouldn't be a problem so long as the vessel is traveling in a straight line. Also, any system that uses LEO satellites will use an omni-directional antenna since LEO satellites are in constant motion anyway.

3/26/2008 3:23:52 PM