Help! Asking here what I asked Readware on AOL: I'm trying to
get a better sense of how the gateway partners side of the
Globalstar charges is going to work. We know that Readware has
estimated .45-.55 /min wholesale charges to gateway partners.
They will then add on for cost of amortizing the gateway,
connecting to network, billing. I think Readware has estimated
1.00 - 1.50, generally.
We know that added to this will be any long distance charges.
Unlike Iridium, G* does not do inter-satellite communications, so
cannot relay around the globe except through the existing wireline
etc. networks. We also know that Bernie has said that great
majority of wireless communications is local or at least regional,
so that inter-satellite communications is not a big issue, and not
worth the overhead, etc. We also know that Iridium has faced
resistance from countries that fear being bypassed. Might not
allow phones in, etc. E.g. China? Ok, sounds good for G*.
But how is the local/long distance thing going to work when you
have ground gateways that cover, e.g. in the case of the one
south of Dallas Texas, most of US and all of the Caribbean?
(This last can be gleaned by looking at the Globalstar and
Airtouch web sites.)
The easiest/clearest thing to do is ask illustrative questions
based on areas most of us are roughly familiar with.
Lets say to pick what is apparently on of Bernie Schwartz's
examples...he is using his Qcom sat phone on the chairlift before
his next ski run at Stratton Mt. Vermont, which I gather doesn't get
cell service. (Let's assume it still doesn't). The US gateway is a
bit south of Dallas, Texas. Or perhaps it is the Canadian one that
is in play. Let's say Dallas.
1) First example: Bernie is calling his sat phone equipped
chauffeur warming his cold feet in front of the fireplace in the
lodge Bernie is staying at, 10 miles from Bernie up in his chairlift.
Bernie says please meet me earlier than expected at the foot of
the Wanderer ski trail. The satellite call as I understand it goes
from Bernie's mobile unit to the nearest bird in the sky to the
Texas groundstation, back to the same bird, to his chauffeur's sat
phone 10 miles from Bernie at that comfy lodge fireplace. .. Is this
a local satellite call, or long distance? It never hits a landline. So
it's local, right? (Same answer for I*, right?)
2) Now Bernie calls the Lodge restaurant and says he wants that
special Black Bear special order dinner after all, please get the
(ever so slightly red) meat in. This is the same 10 miles away
from Bernie on that chairlift but goes over landlines presumably
from Texas to Vermont, cause it ends at the Restaurant desk
phone. Long distance or local? (Either way, same answer for I*,
right?)
3) Now Bernie calls his office in NYC, 200 miles away, and long
distance if done landline to landline, Vermont to NYC. But NYC is
160 miles closer to the Texas Gateway than is that Lodge with
the comfy lounge fireplace, where he just made a local? call. Is
this call to NYC local, or long distance? Who decides? Is it all up
to Airtouch, or does the FCC have rules? Or is Airtouch gonna
have to pay long distance itself, so it has to charge Bernie
accordingly? Or is the wholesale rate of long distance for
continental long distance so cheap to Airtouch that it doesn't care,
treats all continental US as one. (Same for I*, right?)
4) Now Bernie, still bored on the chairlift, calls his daughter, who
has a Qcom Satcom phone in Bequia, St. Vincent, in the
Caribbean. This call never hits a landline. Goes again through
Texas back up to a different bird and down to her in the
Caribbean. But it does cross international borders. All served by
one groundstation, and all intra G*/Airtouch. Is this long distance?
With no landline connect services, is this cheaper to Airtouch
than the call 10 miles away to Bernies Lodge to order that Black
Bear special? (I* the same. Or has Bequia decided not to let any
I* satcom phones in cause it is protecting boatphone's local
cellular license, who not incidentally contributed to the Prime
Minister's last campaign, are where his son in law is VP?)
5) Now Bernie calls his friend the Lodge owner in Bequia where
his daughter is staying and asks for a special Frangipani floral
arrangement to be delivered to her room when she gets back
from her dive day trip. This does hit landlines, or the conventional
network anyway, presumably in the Texas to Bequia, Caribbean,
part of the loop. (Same for I*?)
6) Finally, Bernie calls Alcatel over in Paris to be sure that plans
for Skybridge 3 are on schedule, especially the W2-CDMA
implementation that Qcom wants to get installed. This call goes
over the conventional network from Texas to Paris, across int'l
boundaries and ending in a wireline phone. This is the only one
of my examples that I feel confident gets charged conventional
long distance rates by Airtouch/G* together with its basic satcom
per minute charge. (Now how about I* here? I haven't a clue for
them.)
What light can you shed on all this? Could have quite an impact
on the effective real world costliness of the system in developed
areas.
Much regard, Doug |
