The IsatPhone Pro using the Inmarsat satellite service is the only global handheld satellite phone with Bluetooth capabilities on the market today.
Bluetooth, just like what is used with cellular phones, gives you the freedom from holding the handset against your ear. Keep in mind unlike cellular phones a satellite phone must have line-of-site to one of the satellites that provides the phone service. Cellular signal does a good job piercing through walls and cars, but because the signal of a satellite phone must travel many miles to a satellite in orbit then back down to earth indoor use can be limited.
The Bluetooth technology used by the IsatPhone Pro can reduce this limitation. If you are using the IsatPhone Pro indoors you simple find a window where you can receive a consistent signal and lay the satellite phone on its side with the antenna vertical. A window is normally not dense enough to block the satellite signal allowing the line-of-site needed to receive a consistent satellite signal. This is where the Bluetooth technology comes in handy allowing you freedom to walk around and talk while the phone is near the window.
This type of “phone near the window” set up would not work well with other satellite service providers that use low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. If you received a satellite signal through a window with a service provider using LEO satellites there is a very good chance you will soon lose your signal. LEO satellites are constantly in motion orbiting around the earth so if your visibility is very limited like with a window a LEO satellite will soon move out of line-of-site.
With the Inmarsat service the IsatPhone Pro does not have the problem. The IsatPhone Pro uses three geostationary I-4 satellites that are basically stationary beaming a signal down to a certain region of the earth like most television satellites. Like with television satellite dish once you receive that signal don’t move the phone and you most likely will not lose your satellite signal because that satellite will be consistently in line-of-site.
It takes only three geostationary Inmarsat I-4 to cover the earth because each of the three satellites have such a high orbit it allows for each satellite to provide overlapping coverage to one third of the earth. Imagine holding a flashlight pointing toward a model of the globe. The Imagine as the earth rotates on its axis that flashlight fallows that global around has is rotates beaming a light on that global in a certain region. That is how a geostationary satellite provides a communication beam down to the earth. Now imagine as you move the flashlight closer to the globe the area of light gets smaller and as you move your flashlight further away the area of light gets larger. Again that is how the three Inmarsat I-4 satellites provide coverage to most of the earth excluding only the polar areas.
The Inmarsat I-4 satellite constellation used by the IsatPhone Pro is the most reliable voice and data network in the world. |
