Internet via sat phone
 

Does anyone know of a (UK based??) roaming Internet Service Provider that I can use to access the web via the Thuraya Sat Phone network in Morocco, Mauritania and Mali? Has anyone any recommendations or advice?

Any UK (or other!) service provider with a paying (ie not freephone) number will do you. Just watch the connection speeds! It's very easy, and potentially very expensive.

Sam.

I found that my dial up ISP must have Caller ID enabled or you CANNOT login.

Caller ID from a roaming phone may not work (I have found it doesnt)

, I think this is true of most dial-up ISP accounts.
I looked for an alternative ISP last year. maybe things have changed a little.

I think some ISP's offer an international dial up number

Karim


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I agree Karim on this. Many companies offer roaming GSM or Sat phone connectivity but the GSM nework “hand shaking” or caller id issue has caused me problems in the past connecting via the local GSM network – eg out of 6 or 7 networks I have tried so far only Vodaphone international roaming numbers seem to work in Europe and I haven’t found anything to work south of Gibraltar despite the companies specifically mentioning reciprocal agreements with N.African networks – Hence the move to a Sat phone…

Sam – have you actually used this system successfully? If so, did you use Thuraya or Iridium and which ISP?

As mentioned on a previous post - speed (baud rate) is a serious technical and cost issue. I have an iridium phone which is fine but it will invariably drop the connection within 5 minutes unless you are lucky - frustrating if your on the net or trying to do some telephone banking!

I was hoping that my Iridium phone could do the necessary but the baud rates are atrocious, if someone sends you an attachment you're sunk; and it drops a call rather than hand you over to the next satellite (not geostationary orbit). At least with Thuraya there's only one satellite so the call shouldn't drop.
In my tour of WA this year I met a family in a truck who let me use their connection via a Geolink RBGAN antenna. It's an absolute dream come true! You get 144kbps, enough to use webmail on a web navigator. What's more connection time isn't counted, only data downloaded (12 dollars a Meg, don't send home hi-res photos). It works in the Thuruya coverage zone. If you get a net2phone account back home it could well work out cheaper than a satphone (although you'd have to switch on the computer)
Sometimes they do special offers where the antenna comes free when you subscribe for a year (about 160 dollars)
Have a look at http://www.satcomdistribution.com/re...e-ip-modem.asp and geolink.com
May your pistes be without corrugations
Luke