Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) have answers on a wide range of topics. Whether you are interested in learning about our services, or curious about the progress of our program, you can find the answers here.
A. Elsacom, a
Finmeccanica company, is among one of the most important
companies present today in the satellite telecommunication
market. Elsacom provides a vast portfolio of fixed and
mobile satellite services for many different applications:
voice telephony, data/fax transmission and personal
location, as well as high speed internet connection
and satellite video broadcasting, offering turnkey solutions
for target customers. As a strategic partner of Globalstar
- the world's most widely used handheld and fixed satellite
phone network – Elsacom provides the service in the
following European countries: Albania, Austria, Belarus,
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Romania,
Serbia &Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden,
Switzerland, and Ukraine.
Q. What are the services provided by Elsacom?
A. Elsacom provides a full range of
mobile, integrated and innovative satellite services.
Mobile Services:
Globalstar, the leading Global Mobile Personal Communication
Service (GMPCS) which is a simple, reliable, secure
from interception, low-cost, high voice quality telephony
service.
Integrated Services: Elsacom offers integrated services
such as data, audio and video broadcasting (data package
delivery, streaming delivery, fast Internet), data,
voice, video and TV services (video, data, voice and
Internet services). Furthermore Elsacom is active,
together with other Research and Development market
leaders, in creating new products, services and multimedia
applications such as Digital Cinema, Navigation, Environmental
Monitoring and Telemedicine targeted to fully exploit
existing and potential satellite technology and meet
the increasing needs of corporate customers.
>>About GLOBALSTAR
Q. What is Globalstar?
A. Globalstar is the world's most
widely-used handheld satellite phone service, providing
high-quality, low-cost voice and data services to
businesses, communities and individuals around the
world. Globalstar, which was established in 1991 and
began commercial service in late 1999, currently offers
service from virtually anywhere across over 100 countries,
as well as from most territorial waters and several
mid-ocean regions. Signals from a Globalstar phone
or modem are received by the company's constellation
of 48 Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites and relayed
to ground-based gateways, which then pass the call
on to the terrestrial telephone network. As a result,
Globalstar is able to provide a variety of telephone
services to users who live, work, and travel in areas
far beyond the reach of cellular networks.
Looking ahead, Globalstar intends to continue expanding
its operations to provide service in the few remaining
land areas not covered today, as well as across mid-ocean
regions. Products and accessories will also continue
to be developed and upgraded to make the service even
more useful.
Q. Who can use Globalstar?
A. The typical Globalstar users are
utilities, long-haul commercial vehicles, operators
travelling nationally and internationally, rescue
and emergency task forces, fishing boats, yachts and
other small craft and short-haul commercial vehicles.
Explorers, geologists, field scientists, civil engineers,
international travellers with activities in areas
with poor or non-existent cellular coverage could
also take great advantages from Globalstar services
and all those who need high quality and secure conversation.
Q. How is Globalstar different from other
satellite telephone systems?
A. A Globalstar offers highly competitive
cost calls: the call signal is sent back to earth
and enters landlines through local gateways and not
through the satellite thus enabling cost-effective
service.
Globalstar allows you to make and receive calls as
easily as you would on a regular mobile phone.
Globalstar is integrated to terrestrial networks:
the Globalstar dual mode (satellite/GSM) phone allows
the customers to be always reachable and choose the
mode, satellite or GSM, according to the network availability
and the economic advantage to use it.
The Globalstar call is supported by a constellation
of 48 Low Earth Orbit satellites that operates at
an altitude 1414 kilometres.
Globalstar offers high quality and secure conversations
thanks to CDMA and path diversity technologies.
Q. Why should I choose Globalstar?
A. We would like to underline the
most significant advantages of the Globalstar service.
- The Globalstar service, thanks to its very simple
technology, provides its customers with the most cost
effective services.
- The voice quality can be compared
to the terrestrial telephony without any perceptible
delay in the conversation.
- Guaranteed access to communication
and secure conversation.
- Globalstar allows you to make or
receive calls easily in comparison to the other mobile
satellite communication systems.
>>About GLOBALSTAR SERVICES
Q.What are the Globalstar services provided by Elsacom?
A. Globalstar offers a vast range of services, such as: high quality voice telephony, asynchronous data, facsimile, call forwarding, call barring, roaming, emergency calls, automatic mode select, message waiting indication, dual tone multiple frequency, calling line ID.
Services
Availability
Telephony
Now
Async data
Now
Call Forwarding
Now
Call Barring
Now
SMS (MO/MT)
Test
Roaming
Now
Emergency Calls
Now
Automatic Mode Select
Now
Message Waiting Indication
Now
Dual Tone Multiple Frequency
Now
Calling line ID
Now
To have a more detailed description
of our services have a look at the services
table.
>>About TECHNICAL ASPECTS
Q. What are some key characteristics of Globalstar's system architecture?
A. In order to have lower costs of the services, low technological risks and a rapid and complete full availability of the services, Globalstar's system architecture uses small satellites incorporating a well-established repeater design working as a simple "bent pipe," relaying signals from the satellite directly to the ground. All the system's call processing and switching operations are on the ground, where they can be maintained and where they can benefit from continuing technological updating. The CDMA digital technology selected by Globalstar also promotes an efficient use of the satellite resources.
Q. What are the benefits of Globalstar's system architecture?
A.Globalstar's architecture has been designed to let all calls, including international calls, go through the service provider's existing land-based network from local gateways, rather than bypassing the existing telephone network infrastructure. Moreover Globalstar satellites' low-earth orbit at a altitude of 1414 kilometres introduce no perceptible voice delay, compared to the time delays and echo effects of calls based on geosynchronous satellites. Globalstar believes that its system also introduces noticeably less voice delay than medium-earth orbit (MEO) MSS systems and, in many cases, than LEO systems requiring on-board satellite call processing to support satellite-to-satellite switching systems.
Q. What is path diversity and why is it important?
A. Path diversity is an important feature of Globalstar's system because it prevents calls dropping. As an example, consider a Globalstar user driving a car reaching a spot behind a building. He will be blocked from communications with one satellite. With path diversity, Globalstar covers that user with two or three satellites simultaneously, and any one of them can provide the communication. Therefore, the loss of an individual satellite will usually not provide any gaps in global coverage
. Q. What is a Soft Hand-off?
A. Soft hand-off is a key feature of Globalstar working jointly with path diversity. It enables a Globalstar user to be connected to as many as three satellites simultaneously. As satellites are constantly moving in and out of view, they will be seamlessly added to and removed from the calls in progress, with less risks of call interruption.
Q. How is the quality of Globalstar phone calls compare with cellular calls?
A. Based on terrestrial simulations of the Globalstar system, Globalstar CDMA digital technology is able to provide digital voice services with better clarity, quality and privacy than the currently used analogue land-based cellular systems.
>>About COVERAGE
Q. How can Globalstar compete against cellular, especially in term of coverage?
A. Globalstar is not competing against cellular. It integrates cellular communication providing connectivity to users travelling outside the cellular range. Although cellular systems are increasing their coverage, 35% of the continental U.S. - and 90% of the world - is still not covered by cellular services, and for many rural areas, full cellular coverage may never be economically practical.
Q. Which coverage is offered by the Elsacom SIM card?
A. Our service is available in more than 110 countries in the following geographic areas:
Europe
Australia / New Zealand
North and Central America (Canada, USA, Alaska, Mexico and Caribbean Islands)
South America
Russia
Central and north Japan
Middle East area
North Africa
North Atlantic Ocean
Mediterranean Sea
Red Sea
Arabic Sea
For an overall description of the coverage have a look at our Globalstar coverage map, or contact our Customer Service for a detailed list of the countries where Globalstar service is available with an Elsacom SIM Card.
Q. Do Globalstar phones work from ocean locations?
A. Globalstar phones operate from sea locations, made exception from ocean locations at about 200 miles distances offshore. The North Atlantic Ocean has been covered through the so-called "extended service coverage". It means that the Gateways located in USA and in France cover all the area within the range of 30º to 71º North Latitude, due to a particular development of the performances of the Gateways mentioned above, as shown in our coverage map. In general, the Globalstar system can complete a call in any situation where both the Globalstar phone and a ground station can be "seen" from the same satellite.
>>About PRICING
Q. How much will the phones and calls cost?
A. Our approach is to be competitive. Our objective is to propose, according to the market changes, a competitive service. This will be possible because of the lower network cost, longer life of satellites, multi-regional coverage that will spread a beneficial margin on the customers and a good quality of the service absolutely comparable to the terrestrial telephony.
The new commercial ELSACOM offers present
highly competitive and simple tariffs for voice and
data services tailored to end users and companies.
>>About SECURITY
Q. Are Globalstar phone calls secure?
A. CDMA technology provides exceptional security against unlawful interception of Globalstar calls. Furthermore, the CDMA technology allows a better tolerance to interferences and security during communication.
>>About HANDSETS
Q. What are the Globalstar handsets?
A. They're Dual and Tri-Mode handsets.
The main Manufacturers for dual mode handsets (Satellite/GSM)
are Telit and Ericsson.
Tri-mode phones (AMPS/CDMA/Globalstar satellite) are
manufactured by Qualcomm and working in terrestrial
mode in the areas where the cellular standard system
IS - 41 is adopted.
Q. How does a Globalstar handset compare with
a cellular handset?
A. Globalstar handsets and vehicle-mounted
mobile units are expected to have prices, size and
functions comparable with the current state-of-the-art
digital cellular telephones. Globalstar mobile units
also use, on average, less power than conventional
analogue cellular telephones and are therefore longer
battery life. Multi-mode handsets are able to access
both Globalstar and the local land-based cellular
service, where available.
Furthermore, accessories such as the dual SIM battery allow you to use a Globalstar phone in the preferred mode (Satellite/GSM) without removing the SIM card
Q. What additional equipment do I need to use a mobile satellite phone?
A. Nothing else. All you need is an Ericsson or a Telit mobile satellite phone. You don't need to change your SIM-card because the Elsacom SIM Card allows you to use satellite and GSM services as well, wherever Elsacom has signed Roaming Agreements with GSM operators. Otherwise, your GSM operator allow you the satellite services in the areas where it has signed Roaming Agreements with the Globalstar Srervice Providers.
Q. Is it true that Globalstar phones work inside buildings?
A. Globalstar phones do work inside buildings to the same degree that cellular phones work because Globalstar dual- and tri-mode phones are also cellular phones. In cellular mode, Globalstar phones can make calls inside buildings or anywhere else where a cellular signal can be received.
Q. Which are the best conditions of use of Globalstar phones?
A. As any other satellite system all Globalstar handsets have been designed to achieve the very best possible quality when in line of sight with the satellites. Make sure the handset has a clear view of the sky before using the satellite service. In more constrained conditions the phone often works but the quality of the service cannot be guaranteed.
Q. How can I get a Globalstar phone now?
A. To get a Globalstar phone you can choose among different opportunities:
- find our Local Partners among the
European countries where Elsacom is the Globalstar
Service Provider.
- contact our Customer Service
Q. How do I know if my handset is data capable?
A. If you have a Telit Sat 550 or
Sat 600, please check the software version pressing
M/6/3. It has to be the 8.0.x software release or
higher. If it is a previous release, the phone should
be sent to the closest Telit Service Center.
All the Qualcomm products are data capable.
>>About POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
Q. Who can use a Globalstar phone? What is your target market?
A. One of the strengths of our service partner structure is our ability to tailor our marketing strategy to each individual customer set. Thus, the target audience will vary from location to location.
In general, Globalstar believes that the larger usage of the service depends on three major factors:
- Everyone who needs to travel in and out of areas with cellular coverage like international roamers but also vertical market segments such as maritime, oil and gas, mining and construction, emergency services, transportation, utilities, travel and leisure.
- Emergency and rescue forces
- Countries where terrestrial networks are not available
