Hi all, I have been long on G* since Nov 98 and have been reading this thread since then. I finally decided to pay my dues to SI and get into this discussion since it's the only place where most people seem to have a clear handle on the issues.
I am confused.......
Why does everyone here spend most of their time discussing handsets, satellites, CDMA, 2nd, 3rd, 4th constellations etc?
The reason I ask is that, as I understand it, G* (+ IRIDF + ICOGF)phones will use frequencies that don't propagate well through buildings and other obstructions. So I ask myself where are people going to use handsets? I am a very frequent GSM user (in New Zealand) and 90% of the time I use my cellphone in locations where no sat-phone would work (except in Terrestial mode, and then why do I need a sat-phone). These are buldings, cars and streets where there are too many buldings around to get a clear view of the sky (and Auckland isn't even that built up).
In other words I would have zero use for a more expensive phone with more expensive minutes (my company pays about US 10c/min for the GSM) which switches to my old GSM system whenever I want to use it. I travel overseas, mostly in Asia, and take my Nokia 6110 with me. It auto roams and works for both data and voice just fine. Yes, it's very expensive in roaming mode but I suspect that will change as the extra cost is mostly inter SP billing.... e-commerce should take care of that in the next couple of years.
So why am I long on G*? Because it is able to provide (relatively) cheap minutes to an area the size of Australia by building one(!!) gateway. This is very powerful compared to building a terrestial GSM, CDMA or whatever network and, more importantly, much cheaper than building a landline network. In my view building one gateway in a strategic position in China (which they have done) and the doing the deals with local towns, businesses, and SPs is the real market. I know this is not new, but where is the discussion, the info.....
What does the car-kit look like?
How does the fixed station work?
what does it look like??? How much does it cost?? Who is making them?? How many do we have built by Sep99??
grrrr having trouble with this editor... see next post |
