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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Globalstar Telecommunications Limited GSAT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hedgehog26 who wrote (20878)	1/4/2001 2:33:58 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Text of Washington Post article mentioning Globalstar. A Phone for the Back of Beyond By John Breeden II Government Computer News Thursday, January 4, 2001; Page E08 The world may be mostly wired, but there are still plenty of unwired frontiers left. Reviewers at the Government Computer News Lab were intrigued by Globalstar Mobile Satellite Services' claim that it can provide wireless telephone coverage anywhere in the continental United States and in a good portion of Mexico, Canada and Latin America. On a trip to the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas last month, we decided to test that claim using a Qualcomm phone equipped with the Globalstar service. We took along several other wireless phones to compare. The Qualcomm GSP 1600 sports two antennas, one for standard service and an extendable one for satellite service. At 14 ounces, it may not be a phone to tote around in well-covered urban areas. A car mount is optional for hands-free communication. Our planned test site in the Mojave Desert had no roads for cars; we could reach the Valley of Fire State Park only by all-terrain vehicle. A guide at ATV Action Tours assured us there were areas in the mountainous region that no cellular signal could reach. We smiled and told him to take us there. About halfway into our four-hour expedition to the cellular dead zone, reviewer Carlos A. Soto's four-wheeler blew a tire on jagged rocks. While our guide fixed the tire, we conducted our first test. We extended the Qualcomm satellite antenna to the sky, where Globalstar has 48 satellites in low Earth orbit. The phone had also worked indoors, but we found the satellite signal was not as robust as a cellular signal and could not penetrate walls or ceilings very well. The phone worked best near a window. In the wasteland, however, the satellite signal was strong. I called someone in Washington and we spoke for several minutes before I revealed I was talking via satellite. The connection was crystal clear. Meanwhile, a few of our cellular phones also eked out a signal. We made several scratchy, often-disconnected calls. After the tire was fixed, we kept our speed down until we knew the patch would hold. About an hour later we arrived in a dry canyon marked by Native American drawings dating back 2,000 years -- the guide's fabled cell-phone dead zone. He told us he had even climbed to the top of one of the surrounding hills and gotten no cellular signal at all. We were, after all, a long, hard ride from civilization. None of the cell phones now detected even a hint of a signal. Pulling the GSP 1600 from my sandy pocket, I stood next to the ancient drawings and tried to communicate in 21st-century mode. As soon as the antenna went up, the phone's signal indicators came to life. I again called Washington and had a conversation, our voices clearly audible. Fully charged, the Qualcomm phone supplies power for 10 hours on standby and about four hours of continuous use. An optional data-port extension allows users to plug in a portable or handheld computer so they can check e-mail or browse the Web. The phone worked like a standard cell phone in either digital or analog mode. It switched to satellite mode only when the special antenna was raised and the unit could not reach standard cellular service. The phone is expensive, at $1,500, and satellite calls run $1 a minute. A small price to pay, had we gotten stuck in the dead zone with a flat tire that couldn't be fixed. To respond, e-mail editor@gcn.com or visit the Government Computer News Web site at www.gcn.com. © 2001 The Washington Post Company