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To: unclewest who wrote (16045)	8/22/2000 9:26:19 AM
From: Texas77	Respond to of 29987

I have a friend that goes fishing near Galveston and he is considering a G* phone. He only has a 30' boat and only goes out a few times each year so I told him that would be like paying $500 a trip for telephone service and it didn't seem to bother him. He said he considered it well worth it just for the added safety but wanted it more for the convenience. He said he could also use it on his hunting trips. This guy isn't what I would call wealthy so I figure there may be a better market than we think. Considering the hundreds of small companies that operate small boats in the area I would think the market may be larger than we think.

To: unclewest who wrote (16045)	8/22/2000 10:19:14 AM
From: Selectric II	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Re: Private boating market. Has anybody seen G* available in the marine supply stores like WEST MARINE, BOATER'S WORLD, BOAT U.S., etc? Some of these places sell cell phones; G* would be a natural.

To: unclewest who wrote (16045)	8/22/2000 6:06:26 PM
From: hiker90	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29987

I had an interesting conversation with a G* dealer servicing the yachting community in the Galveston Bay area south of Houston. For serious cruisers he recommended a single side band radio (SSB, about $3k) for the following reasons: 1)Worldwide coverage with no holes in ocean coverage. 2)SSB radio has distress button for emergency mayday calls. 3)SSB can receive "Weather fax", a free service maintained by NOAA I believe. 4)For $200/year, the SSB operator can have an email account accessible through the SSB. His thoughts on G: 1)Only way to go for telephone service for serious Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean cruisers. Phone calls placed via SSB operator cost $5/minute with $15 minimum charge. 2)Coverage of Caribbean will help sell more phones to his yachting customers. 3)Was unsure about using G in a marine emergency. How does one get connected to the right Coast Guard operator. 4)Mentioned data capabilities coming on line year end as important milestone. Did not speculate as to impact to phone sales to the yachting community. BTW, this dealer only had G* handhelds. I forgot to ask about the marine kits. FWIW