For most of us with smartphones, sending a tweet out to our followers is a simple process. Simply log in to the application, share your deepest thoughts in 140 characters or less and hit tweet. But if you are in a remote area, or your cell service is unavailable for some reason, you can forget about tweeting — or using your phone for anything other than a paperweight, really.
That’s why many people turn to satellite phones when they know that they won’t have cellular service. When camping or hiking in the remote wilderness, cruising on the ocean or simply traveling overseas, you can never be sure that you will have cell service when you need it the most. Until recently, though, satellite phones were only for making phone calls. If you needed help or just needed to check in, a satellite phone could help you make the connection, but it couldn’t do much else. Unlike your smartphone, satellite phones aren’t equipped with the latest social media apps.
All that is changing with the latest generation of satellite phones that offer advanced capabilities — including the ability to send tweets.
The Next Generation of Tweeting
In 2012, satellite provider Iridium teamed up with another provider, Thuraya, to provide customers with the ability to use Twitter’s original SMS texting service. Since then, Inmarsat has also started supporting Twitter SMS. The partnership is reminiscent of the micro-blogging service’s roots: When Twitter launched in 2006, it was originally designed as an SMS texting service that allowed users to send short messages to larger groups of people. After developing a standalone platform — the Twitter of today that millions of users know and love — the SMS service fell by the wayside, but has proven useful once again to those using satellite phones. Sending tweets from your satellite phone is useful when you want to send a quick update to a large group of people, such as notifying friends and family of your whereabouts when you’re on a long hike. The function has also been used by those in volatile areas to share news and updates when it’s too dangerous or impossible to make a phone call.
Essentially, to send a tweet via satellite, you need to register your satellite phone on Twitter using your existing account. Once your phone is verified, you can send tweets by sending a text to “40404,” the standard Twitter messaging address on Iridium. (On Thuraya, the code is “1888,” and Inmarsat’s code is “898.”) Your message will show up on your feed and be seen by all of your followers. Keep in mind that although the character limit for SMS messages is 160, Twitter only allows 140 characters. You must manually count your characters, or your message will be cut off when it shows up on your Twitter feed.
If you want, you can also subscribe to notifications on Twitter so that others can respond to you; their tweets will come to you via text message on your satellite phone. To do so, visit the user’s profile and click the icon to turn on updates; their tweets will then be forwarded to you. However, because the messaging rates on satellite phones are different than those on cell phones, opting to receive SMS updates could send your bill skyrocketing.
Other Capabilities
Sending tweets via satellite phone is just one of the new capabilities that today’s newer models offer. For example, many phones from the largest networks can also serve as hotspots, allowing you to connect to the Internet and send email, get news and engage in video conferencing. And while your satellite phone doesn’t have the same GPS functionality as your cell phone, in terms of providing directions, the GPS system on your phone will help rescuers to pinpoint your exact location, speeding up the search-and-rescue process and increasing your chances of survival should you be hurt or in serious peril.
Satellite phone technology is improving every day, and it may only be a matter of time before satellite phones offer comparable features and capabilities to today’s smartphones. Until then, realize that your satellite phone can probably do more than you think it can, and learn more about it so you can truly maximize its potential.
