Re: [pct-l] Satellite phones

["Richard P. Reynolds" <rpreynolds@home.com>]

More on Satellite Stuff:

Tech company unveils 'anywhere pager'
October 13, 1998
Web posted at: 1:13 a.m. EDT (0513 GMT) 

ATLANTA (CNN) -- A new pager and satellite telephone, to be available
next month, will allow messages to be received anywhere in the world,
adding yet another technology landmark in this ever-growing digital age. 
The worldwide satellite phone and pager network, developed by Iridium,
goes into service November 1. "This pager will work everywhere on Earth.
Since it's a passive device, we do not believe it is bound by telecom
laws," said Craig Bond, Iridium's Vice President of Marketing. 

Iridium spent 11 years and $5 billion developing the palm-sized pager
that will use 66 well-placed low orbiting satellites to transmit
messages to any spot on the globe. 

The pagers -- priced at about $700 -- also feature a multilingual
display and will be made available through Motorola.  "It's able to
support 20 languages so you can have it in everything from Chinese to
Arabic to Russian to English to just about everything you can think of,"
Bond said. 

Iridium will also offer a portable satellite telephone in the $3,000
price range that also has the capability to work anywhere on Earth.
While the pager is considered a passive device because it only receives
signals, the satellite phone both receives and transmits signals and
therefore falls under telecommunications laws. 

The company said it has secured the necessary permissions from all but
about 80 of the world's 239 countries. Iridium says it expects most of
the remaining countries to sign contracts in the coming months. 

CNN Correspondent Rick Lockridge contributed to this report. 

:-) Rick :-)


"Burr Patterson, Jr." wrote:
> 
> REI has Pioneer GPSs for $100. I have one, they are great.
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