Globalstar Rising March 2, 2012
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Globalstar GSP-1700
Globalstar announced major technical problems in early 2007. Since then it has been building its second generation satellites and at the current time has successfully launched 18 of the 24 second generation satellites that it built.
Globalstar quality of service is expected (not promised) to be improving by this summer. Outfitter Satellite is currently offering a $39.99 per month Evolution II Airtime plan for Globalstar users that allows unlimited voice calling in the Globalstar USA home zone for a fixed $39.99/month fee (see service contract for complete terms and conditions. Always on data service is not allowed.) Currently we expect Globalstar to end its Evolution II Airtime promotion on March 31, 2012 because of the expected quality of service improvements coming this year.
Outfitter Satellite will be conducting its own independent tests in May 2012 when one of our staff drives from Tennessee to Washington state using a GSP-1700 in a car kit. We’ll let you know how the tests go.
If Globalstar does restore its service to near the quality of service experienced prior to 2006, we expect many Globalstar customers to return to Globalstar. The Globalstar GSP-1700 is an important reason. It is an extremely compact phone — smaller than any satellite phone currently available with coverage in the western hemisphere.
Globalstar Satellite Launch Update January 25, 2010
Posted by outfittertech in Globalstar Satellite Phone.Tags: Globalstar coverage, satellite phone
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Globalstar has announced that it will launch the first six of its second generation satellites during a 90-day window that opens on July 5, 2010. The satellites will be launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Globalstar had previously announced that they would launch 24 satellites this year. No word at this time on when the subsequent launches will occur.
Globalstar Update December 10, 2009
Posted by outfittertech in Globalstar Satellite Phone.Tags: globalstar, Globalstar coverage, satellite phone
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With the addition of $738M in financing earlier this year Globalstar is pushing closer to its launch of 24 second generation satellites beginning in Summer 2010. The six satellites scheduled for the first launch next summer are in final assembly integration and testing. Globalstar expects to have all 24 satellites in service before the end of 2010.
Globalstar Quality of Service Problems that Started in February 2007 July 3, 2009
Posted by outfittertech in Globalstar Satellite Phone.Tags: doesn't work, globalstar, gsp-1600, gsp1600, sat phone, satellite phone, satphone, trade in, trade up
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PROBLEM: In early 2007, Globalstar announced unexpected problems with their satellites. Evidently, the S-band satellite antenna power amplifier on the satellites had degraded and two-way voice and data services were impacted. Simplex services such as used for some Globalstar-based locator systems such as SPOT were not severely affected.
SOLUTION: Globalstar adjusted the configuration of its remaining functional satellites to cover the continental US. This was done at the expense of parts of the coverage map, especially in the high north such as Alaska. Even in the areas that continued to have service, there was a serious increase in call drops. The remaining satellites were farther apart so that path redundancy was often lost, too. This is the feature by which if line of sight between your Globalstar and the Globalstar satellite is lost, the satphone simply switches to any other Globalstar satellite it can see so that your call is not interrupted.
SOLUTION #2: Some Globalstar dealers such as Outfitter Satellite also offered trade-in promotions to help Globalstar customers switch to Iridium products.
SOLUTION #3: Globalstar launched 8 first generation replacement satellites in 2007 to compensate for the degraded satellites. Unfortunately, this was only a partial solution and had limited impact. Globalstar’s second generation satellites are now expected to begin launching in the fall of 2009. They expect to launch 4 satellites every 3 months until 24 additional second generation satellites are deployed. In principle, the 24 second generation and 8 first generation satellites (newly launched in 2007) would mean that there would be as many as 32 operational satellites. If the launch schedule holds, noticable improvement in quality of service would be expected by mid-2010.
