Garmin inReach SOS Outage on 25OCT2021

[Bill Ruttan]

 

[outback97]

How common are these outages? Just curious since I have an inreach that’s been handy for sharing location with family and friends. I hope to never need the SOS function!

 

[WOODY2]

First one I have seen.

 

[DaveInDenver]

It happens with Iridium but also could happen with Globalstar or any network really. In this case a 406MHz COSPAS-SARSAT PLB is probably a safer bet for SOS reliability than a RTCM 12800.0 device (who's to say SMS or Internet connectivity isn't a function of backend SEND issues?) but OTOH the two-way nature of an SpotX or InReach is useful in that you'd know something's maybe up when you can't get replies.

Quick Text messages from an inReach may have been lost or delayed
Written by unknown author, 10/13/21 3:52 PM

Oct 13, 17:52 EDT
Resolved - Some Quick Text messages sent between October 5th and October 8th at 17:30 EST (21:30 UTC) may have been lost before reaching their intended recipient.

Quick Text messages sent between October 8th 5:30 EST (21:30 UTC) and October 13th 5:30 EST (21:30 UTC) may have been significantly delayed.

All delayed messages have now been sent to the intended recipients. This primarily affected inReach handheld devices running older firmware as well as some enterprise configured inReach devices

SMS replies and other messages sent to inReach devices are delayed
Written by unknown author, 9/27/21 9:44 PM

Sep 27, 23:44 EDT
Resolved - This incident has been resolved.
Sep 27, 21:48 EDT
Identified - The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented.

Messaging Outage for Explore Website, MapShare, and IPC Inbound
Written by unknown author, 7/21/21 3:02 PM

Jul 21, 17:02 EDT
Resolved - This incident has been resolved.
Jul 21, 15:29 EDT
Identified - - Messages sent from MapShare or the Explore website to inReach devices may fail to get delivered. This includes replies from inReach message links sent to email addresses, and all account types are affected. SMS traffic has not been affected.

- Device traffic utilizing IPC Inbound may fail to get delivered. This only affect certain professional accounts.

- The above outages started late July 20th and additional accounts were affected throughout July 21st. Remediation actions are currently in progress.

 

[Bill Ruttan]

First one I have seen.

First SOS delay I have heard of in the last three years.

 

[Bill Ruttan]

First SOS delay I have heard of in the last three years.

It happens with Iridium but also could happen with Globalstar or any network really. In this case a 406MHz COSPAS-SARSAT PLB is probably a safer bet for SOS reliability than a RTCM 12800.0 device (who's to say SMS or Internet connectivity isn't a function of backend SEND issues?) but OTOH the two-way nature of an SpotX or InReach is useful in that you'd know something's maybe up when you can't get replies.

I too have seen notifications, such as those above, in status updates from Garmin. While these notices commonly advise of problems delivering SMS (text) messages to cellphone users, the advisory sent on October 25 is the first one I have ever seen that describes a failure in the delivery system for SOS messages.

I also agree that a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) should exhibit very good reliability in delivering SOS messages.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I too have seen notifications, such as those above, in status updates from Garmin. While these notices commonly advise of problems delivering SMS (text) messages to cellphone users, the advisory sent on October 25 is the first one I have ever seen that describes a failure in the delivery system for SOS messages.

That's the ultimate question. From the perspective of the device -> constellation there's no difference in messages, one short burst data packet is like the other to Iridium or Globalstar.

With InReach there's another level going from Iridium to Garmin so exactly where the hiccup occurs could determine what types of end product is affected. At least Globalstar is SPOT so the routing is probably a bit tighter coupled insofar as knowing tracking history and priority escalation.

Point is there's a fairly significant difference in the path an SOS activation takes between 406 MHz devices (e.g. NOAA, Coast Guard in the U.S.) and SENDs (Iridium, Globalstar, GEOS in the U.S.) to get to an emergency going.

If the issue is on the satellite side that means if regular messages aren't working then SOS isn't going work either. If the issue is downstream, perhaps with an carrier, ISP or server, then maybe GEOS still gets messages even when your spouse wouldn't due to a misconfiguration. But only the provider is going to know and they tend to be cagey about details.

I still trust my SPOT but not blindly. The coordination I have is that I will send at least one check-in daily (this is one-way) or/and send cell or amateur radio (via APRS) SMS if possible (this is my two-way). So if none of those happen for a few days then the people watching my progress will have a decision where they call in an SOS at some point.

 

[Bill Ruttan]

That's the ultimate question. From the perspective of the device -> constellation there's no difference in messages, one short burst data packet is like the other to Iridium or Globalstar.

With InReach there's another level going from Iridium to Garmin so exactly where the hiccup occurs could determine what types of end product is affected. At least Globalstar is SPOT so the routing is probably a bit tighter coupled insofar as knowing tracking history and priority escalation.

Point is there's a fairly significant difference in the path an SOS activation takes between 406 MHz devices (e.g. NOAA, Coast Guard in the U.S.) and SENDs (Iridium, Globalstar, GEOS in the U.S.) to get to an emergency going.

If the issue is on the satellite side that means if regular messages aren't working then SOS isn't going work either. If the issue is downstream, perhaps with an carrier, ISP or server, then maybe GEOS still gets messages even when your spouse wouldn't due to a misconfiguration. But only the provider is going to know and they tend to be cagey about details.

I still trust my SPOT but not blindly. The coordination I have is that I will send at least one check-in daily (this is one-way) or/and send cell or amateur radio (via APRS) SMS if possible (this is my two-way). So if none of those happen for a few days then the people watching my progress will have a decision where they call in an SOS at some point.

I really do appreciate that Garmin posts timely status messages whenever there is a disruption affecting the inReach (Iridium) System. Does Spot (Globalstar) have an equivalent?

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm not aware of a feed from Globalstar/SPOT personally but I don't have much social media presence to say for sure on Facetwitgram.

 

[DirtWhiskey]

First SOS delay I have heard of in the last three years.

This is the 3rd deployment error on Inreach I've heard of this year. One was a failed extraction broken ankle on the San Juan River. Other was in the Fitzpatrick in Wyoming. We had all sorts of issues the same weekend on Cataract as the San Juan incedent (friends were on that trip). Inreach is flaky as hell glitchy and the Earthmate app is garbage. We had a unit fail on the same Cataract trip. Still worth it, mostly for device to device coms but also for emergency use and Inreach is still "state of the art" (read: the satellite industry is fat and happy). Starlink can't erase Iridium and Globalstar fast enough. Iridium spent billions launching the new "Next" constellation and NONE of the bandwidth advancements are available to the consumer market. Garbage in garbage out. Good riddance.