Those who travel often know well the importance of staying connected with family, friends, and colleagues. Despite the sometimes annoying omnipresent demand on us to respond immediately to calls, email, and SMS — there is indeed a sense of comfort through being interconnected with the knowledge that remote contact is only a few keystrokes away. This need is heightened when we are traveling and especially when such travel involves long distances and may take us to remote locations.

Despite the seemingly pervasiveness of networking, there is still a significant portion of the planet where the ability to easily connect a phone or computer is a pleasant surprise. In many other places, it is not possible without bringing your network with you. More and more we are finding ourselves in these locations for work or for pleasure. For most working people today, NOT being connected is a huge detriment to their productivity and when they travel to locations where connectivity is not available, they must bring their network with them. Thanks to advances in mobile broadband technologies, this is now an easy matter to address.

Portable communications systems are readily available at reasonable cost from any number of service providers for connecting from anywhere on the planet at anytime.  OODAkits are one example of self-contained mobile broadband communication kits that support five to ten concurrent users making phones calls, accessing the Web, and transmitting live video. Iridium satphones are examples of single-user telephones that work nearly everywhere on the planet as long as you are willing to use the phone when you have a clear line-of-site to the sky.

If you depend on connectivity for your work, consider taking your network with you for those critical missions where you must, without fail, make connections, talk with others, and get online.

Nearly all satellite service providers have customizable plans to match an organization’s budget constraints. Numerous satellite-based Internet services at remote (fixed) locations are available with monthly fees typically ranging from $49 to $99 (competitive with terrestrial rates).

Recognizing the budget constraints of corporations and government agencies requiring higher grades of service (than just Internet access), satellite and wireless service providers have developed pricing plans starting as low as a few hundred dollars per month. Almost all of these providers now have mechanisms for quickly upgrading  service plans (often within an hour or less after a request) in the event of an emergency or ad-hoc requirement for higher transmission rates and data throughput.

Today you can subscribe to mobile satellite broadband services by activating a terminal and then paying for usage as you need it. Varying monthly allowance plans are also available if you can predict your  usage needs (much like a cell phone service plan). These services have monthly rates on the order of $30 to $50 per month to keep the mobile terminal or phone activated and then usage charges are invoiced at the end of each month based on actual voice minutes and data transmitted.

Many people are still under the impression that these services are expensive. However consider that satphone calls can be made for a little as $0.79  per minute with no monthly commitment. Under varying plan packages, the per call charge can go as low as $0.29.

For users requiring simultaneous voice and data capabilities, Inmarsat BGAN terminals are a good choice. These IP-based services enable voice calling and IP network access in a small form factor. Voice services  typically range from $0.79 — $1.29 (competitive with most cellular roaming charges) and data usage is charged at $6 to $8 per megabytes (bulk pricing discounts are also available).

When disaster strikes and there are no alternatives for communications — these mobile satellite broadband rates are a real bargain.

Consider the costs of not being able to make that critical call or send an email!