These are excellent questions, and I apologize for not including this in my post. The GO! is still ultimately a 2.4 kbps data connection which is the same as a handheld phone. The benefit of the GO! is that it has the wireless access point built in and is a lower price point then the handhelds for both hardware and airtime. In the last two years we have been selling the Optimizer 102 device which is a WAP that can connect directly to the Iridium handheld phones, and it works really well. The drawback is of course you have one extra component and the overall cost is greater. The GO! comes in at about 23% less than the entry level Iridium phone.
The benefit of using Iridium for the purpose of data transfers (as well as voice) is that it is the only network that provides 100% coverage worldwide. We have provided Iridium phones to customers all over the world who use them largely for data for many years, and is what our data products were designed for. Our services have given customers the ability to take advantage of even a 2.4 kbps connection speed, and rather it is a largely ineffective exercise to try to use Iridium for data without a compressed service like ours. When it comes to email, weather downloads, or even social media posts, the process that takes place is a transferring of data packets to/from a server that can then direct it to the appropriate internet destination, which can be done in a very efficient way and thus a 2.4 kbps can still be effective. In terms loading an actual web site, we also have a web compression platform, but even with this, loading a website is just simply way more data intensive, especially as web sites become more and more complex. So, loading a web site typically requires a lot more bandwidth just to keep it from timing out. In conclusion, Iridium is still an effective way to transfer data while in remote areas, but if you are needing to load actual web sites, I wouldn't recommend it.
The only mobile global satellite platform that provides actual broadband data speeds is Inmarsat BGAN. Depending on the terminal, these achieve up to a 492 kbps data speed, and they all have a built in voice channel so you can use it for phone calls as well. The Wideye Safari that you mention is a great terminal that we've had very good results with, and you can see our offering of this terminal here:
http://www.ocens.com/Wideye-Safari-P298C21.aspx. This is obviously a vehicular style of terminal. For a portable style of BGAN terminal, we like the Hughes 9202, but there is also a new terminal on the way called the iSavi. It is made by the same manufacturers as the Safari. It is the lightest, smallest, and most cost effective terminal on the market. It should be available by the end of the summer. You can see details on it here:
http://www.ocens.com/iSavi-P585C21.aspx.
Feel free to at any point ask me any other sat com related questions, which is obviously what we specialize in. Our general MO is to deliver information and recommendations based on our own testing and real-world performance as opposed to only relying on engineering/marketing specifications.
