[sidgup]

Exactly! When it said "works in Africa", my first thought was woah, so how does it work without cell coverage - satellite?, APRS?, etc. etc. Only to realize that it is probably just a rugged 3G-Wifi bridge.

Seriously, I even looked through specs and still not sure what it does!

[toomuchtodo]

As someone who has done integration with Iridium and Inmarsat for the NSF, I both love and hate this product. It looks like a ruggedized wifi hotspot, but their claim of "works anywhere" is disingenuous.

This is a hotspot that works anywhere in Africa: http://www.groundcontrol.com/MCD-4800_BGAN_Terminal.htm

[ihnorton]

> As someone who has done integration with Iridium and Inmarsat for the NSF

USAP vessels?

[toomuchtodo]

Very close :) Weather stations, same region.

[ihnorton]

Ah, neato. I spent a lot of time staring at the Inmarsat signal strength down there!

[girvo]

Iridium, neat. What was integrating it like?

[toomuchtodo]

Very straightforward. Iridium phones have a module you can use that exposes an RS232 interface; integration with either a microcontroller or a full blown computer is trivial.