CellAtSea

[DRNewcomb]

It's fairly common to have satellite-linked micro-cells on cruise ships and long-distance ferries. The cost of using these systems ranges from reasonable to rape, you just have to check with your carrier. I tend to forward everything to voicemail and use SMS when roaming on one of these systems.

[sakr]

Take a look at their official website http://www.cellatsea.com/hovedsiden....16286&gid=7520

As far as I know they turn on their service on a board as soon as they leave the "sea border" of a country. Special charges apply for the services they offer (different than roaming on normal "land" network).

[petkow]

Thanks. It is indeed quite fascinating, though I think one can get stung quite badly on charges. A bit of further reading on the subject tells me that Ryanair's system (which goes live in the next few months) will be quite similar but use Monaco Telecom. The company that is supplying them is http://www.onair.aero

The deal means that from mid 2007 (subject to relevant regulatory approval) Ryanair’s passengers will be able to call, text and e-mail using their mobile phones, BlackBerrys™ and Treos™ at rates which will mirror international roaming charges. OnAir intend to fit 50 Ryanair aircraft during the second half of 2007, with the remainder of the fleet receiving installations from early 2008 onwards. Mobile OnAir will be offered on all Ryanair flights across Ryanair’s network of more than 360 routes serving 23 countries across Europe. Ryanair will be the first European airline to offer this mobile telephony to all passengers on all of its 200 plus aircraft fleet.

I wonder what options exist/will exist for evading the likely high costs of roaming on all such "pico-networks" even if they are intended to "mirror international roaming charges"... (however just what this means remains to be seen).

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by petkow

I wonder what options exist/will exist for evading the likely high costs of roaming on all such "pico-networks" even if they are intended to "mirror international roaming charges"... (however just what this means remains to be seen).

And I wonder if those GSM-on-Ships roaming rates "fall" under the latest EU roaming regulations. I know about at least two EU operators that offer maritime services, namely TIM Italy and P&T Luxembourg. I think that the operators can find some legal "workarounds": roaming outside EU i.e. on non-EU/international waters, the ships are registered in "cheap countries" like Bahama, Panama or something like this...