Presently, I'm still in the process of trying to obtain a lock on a block of Iridium phone numbers that I've been trying to get for six months. As I write this piece, I'm en route from Europe to the U.S. West Coast on a nearly brand new Boeing 747-400 freighter with built-in satcom capabilities, so I'm not missing having Iridium's individual capabilities.

Earlier this year, I spent nearly 100 hours trying to get the attention of the Iridium "marketing" organization in order to reserve 2,000 sequential phone numbers for Boeing 747 crew members and flight operations support personnel who operate a fleet of nearly 30 Boeing 747 freighters serving most of the world's 25 busiest cargo airports.

An additional request was that a specific 3-digit prefix be made available in order to match the company's NYSE ticker symbol. The numbers that I was requesting were ambivalent as far as the country code or other initial access numbers were concerned.

I simply wanted the end numbers xxx-xxx-246-4000 through at least xxx-xxx-246-5999 (or more) set aside for potential expansion pending the results of my study to improve global communications for this particular operation.

I contacted Iridium or their sales reps in Chicago (Illinois), Tempe (Arizona), Dallas (Texas), Denver (Colorado), Saint-Laurent (Canada), Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong (PRC), Taipei (ROC), Buenos Aires(Argentina) and Dubai (UAE). I also checked to see if there were any great discrepancies in rates.

A company that operates on a global scale should be able to choose where to set up accounts for an Iridium system and which currency it would be most convenient to use for payment.

Within the flight crew work force in general, there is always a concern about days off, hourly pay rates and income predictability, so an Iridium communication capability that is available anywhere and anytime is not the primary focus of flight crews at the moment.

Many crew members would not want to be bothered carrying the existing Iridium phones right now. The marketing lesson of convenience and ergonomics has already been addressed in widely published articles.

My focus is on the operational deployment of any mobile satellite communications system in such a way that it pays for itself and is seen as an asset that improves operations, not a liability that becomes another burden.

In order to accomplish that objective, the policy, procedures, and practices must be kept simple. That's why the last four digits of the Iridium telephone, if potentially assignable to a particular individual, should match the individual's existing voice mail extension.

For that to happen, the reservation for a reasonable time period of a block of numbers is required.

With less than 50,000 customers and millions of potential numbers, why can't Iridium allocate either 2,000 or 10,000 numbers to a serious, financially strong, potential customer that already owns at least 3 Iridium telephones? Iridium has too few customers and too many worthless numbers. Why is it so difficult to get this simple point across?

With an existing company global voice mail system supported by AT&T access worldwide, a satcom system would simply be one step up on the scale of urgency and economic necessity.

It won't work properly if it's not linked to voice mail either directly ("Press 911 to be transferred to the individual's satellite phone if you are willing to pay for the call."), or at least without having to memorize or write down a different 4-digit extension and a bunch of other numbers (i.e., the CompuServe lesson).

If you know the U.S. access numbers for Iridium (in the case of an account based in the U.S.), then add the 3-digit NYSE ticker symbol for the company, and my 4-digit crew member voice mail extension of 5183, you'd be able to contact me directly anywhere in the world as long as the telephone was on, the battery was charged, and my location was accessible to the satellite signal. A message could be left in voice mail in any case.

A significant percentage of potential usage is deterred if you have to write down, retrieve, or remember another number in order to use the system (i.e., [email protected] vs. [email protected]).

You could also ask Iridium this fundamental question yourself by dialing 1-888-IRIDIUM, which is also 1-888-474-3486, if you can remember this number three days, three weeks, or three months from now.

It's not appropriate to expect to reserve hypothetical blocks of numbers just in case you might want to buy a satcom phone some day as an individual.

My focus is on how to turn a single sale into a system sale for 1,000 or more telephones that would potentially be affordable and cost effective for the company in question by reserving a block of sequential numbers for a few years while the subscriber list continues to grow.

When I first asked the "numbers" question of Iridium, they interpreted my request as asking for a "vanity" number (like a vanity license plate). I don't consider it vanity to request an NYSE ticker symbol translated into digits so as to coordinate the entire satcom access number with the voice mail number.

Furthermore, during implementation and expansion of the system, I might want to assign the next phone to the number 4747 (the Director of Operations), or 4737 (the JFK Chief Pilot), rather than 4001, or 5001, or my voice mail extension of 5183, or whatever 4-digit number I choose.

I need the ability to accomplish satellite mobile phone number implementation and system growth in whatever sequence makes sense internally for a particular organization without being assigned a number by Iridium, or GlobalStar, or Teledesic, or whomever.

I might even want to provide an option to ring the satellite phone (via call forwarding) instead of, or in addition to, leaving voice mail (in responding to urgent operational necessities).

I do like the fact that the caller pays for an inbound call to an Iridium telephone so that the Iridium phone bill can be kept under control. This is precisely the advantage that I'm looking for because it enables anyone to contact me as long as they're willing to pay the price of the call without losing control of costs.

For instance, in the event of a family emergency such as a serious illness, accident, or even a shooting at your kids' high school, your family will be better off contacting you directly and instantaneously, than they would be if they have to wait on hold in order to speak with crew scheduling or any other company representative so that they can ask them to forward a message to you.

A satcom capability could be useful to a flight crew member spending an average of 250 days out of 365 each year outside the range of normal direct domestic voice communications (not voice mail or Email). In fact, a Boeing 747 Captain as a routine Iridium user would probably have been a more effective marketing image for a $100 million advertising campaign than penguins in Antarctica.

For now, until Iridium gets its act together, or other systems come on line, I'm spending more time trying to get easier and more cost effective global access to the Internet without adding more ISP accounts.

With improving Internet phone service options, the competition with satellite systems will keep pressure on international phone rates. I envision the early years of the next millennium with user friendly satcom systems, easier Internet access for globally mobile professionals, increasingly rapid delivery of information that is critical for global operations, and an inbox free of spam.

William Good - Founded in 1977, ESTS provides support for e-commerce and space commerce. Readers with constructive comments and requests for consulting services are invited to respond to [email protected]@nospam - remove @nospam.

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