🔍 Key Concepts

• Iridium satellite system design and coverage • Difference between dedicated satellite networks and terrestrial cellular networks • How some satellite phones can or cannot switch to land-based cellular networks

💭 Think About

• Think about whether Iridium terminals are designed to work with land-based cell towers, or if they rely on their own satellite constellation only. • Consider whether Iridium is integrated with Inmarsat, or if they are separate, competing satellite systems with different equipment. • Ask yourself: what would be a realistic, practical advantage for mariners far offshore, where no cell towers or terrestrial networks exist?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify whether Iridium equipment is compatible with terrestrial cellular networks at all. • Check if Iridium and Inmarsat share hardware or if they need different terminals. • Confirm whether the main advantage mentioned in training materials is about flexibility of networks or being limited to a single satellite system.