*FT letter. IRIDIUM: Handset useless as you sit in a tent while animals prowl outside
(via I* yahoo thread)
ft.com
Financial Times Comment / Letters August 20 1999
From Mr Harry Atkinson.
Sir,
Your editorial on Iridium ("Down to earth", August 13) seemed in no way incorrect, but it overlooked the
persistently uncorrected, significant shortcoming for users in the field.
When in February 1999 we purchased the first of an intended number of Motorola Iridium handsets we
received a price list of accessories, many of which were vital to our purpose but none of which was
immediately available. Despite our repeated efforts to obtain them, they remain unavailable to us at this
date.
We sorely lack items such as the rooftop remote antennas, that are essential for use within buildings and
vehicles, and the cellular cassettes essential for use in concrete jungles. Our every inquiry results in
excuses such as "production delays" or unfulfilled promises of a response "within a few days".
While a standalone Iridium handset is fine when one is standing in the scrublands, without the accessories
(plentifully available for the rival Inmarsat terminals) Iridium is useless even inside a tent. Therefore we are
unable to receive calls even in our off-road vehicles, and cannot credibly issue our Iridium number to
would-be callers who, trying from distant time zones, would rarely catch us outside when it may be raining
or at night-time when wild animals may be hunting around.
Until its existing and new customers have received the vital accessories, Iridium continues with its satellites
barely utilised. The market for Iridium is certainly there because the rival Inmarsat does well with its
well-accessoried but comparatively cumbersome terminals.
Harry Atkinson,
Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary,
Kwale District,
Kenya coast |
