As satellite data is more expensive than cellular data, it is important to monitor your data usage. You can avoid bill shock with the PredictWind Data Manager with alerts that can be set up on our Satellite Portal.

Note: Alerts will be automatically sent to your PredictMail email address that you will need to set up.

Iridium GO exec Firewall profiles:

We recommend keeping the GO Exec unit on the default App/Web profile which is All Blocked. If you change from this profile you are likely to get Bill shock. You can learn more about the GO Exec App/Web profiles in this help article.

Getting started in the first month

With your first month of airtime, the price, MB data allowance and voice minute allocation are all pro-rated. The billing cycle for the Iridium Go! exec is from the 17th of the month to the 16th of the following month. So, for example, if you activate the SIM card on the GO! exec 50MB plan on the 1st of June, you only pay for half the month and only get a 25MB data allowance and 25 minutes of voice calling allowance until the plan rollover date 16th of June. On the 17th of June, you get 50MB of data allowance for the June/ July billing period.

PredictWind Apps / Services to save on your data usage

Some apps will use a lot of your data (and very quickly), so we highly recommend you primarily use apps that are optimized for data usage on a satellite connection. Failing to follow these instructions could result in high data usage with bill shock/overages.

1/ Offshore App

The PredictWind Offshore App will automatically open the Iridium GO! exec firewall and allow you to download weather data. This App compresses all weather data, so it is by far the most efficient way to download data.

Simply connect your computer/ phone/ tablet to the Iridium GO! exec Wi-Fi, and use the Iridium GO! exec tab in the Offshore App download options. The Offshore App will automatically connect/ disconnect to the Iridium GO! exec unit and open the connection.

There is no need to open an internet profile on the Iridium GO! exec App/ device. The Offshore App will open the connection as required when you click on 'Download All'.

Note: If you have enabled an Admin Pin on the Iridium GO! exec, this will affect the Offshore App connection to the Exec unit and stop the GRIB downloads.

To disable the Admin Pin > Use the Iridium GO! exec unit LCD screen > Click on the Setting icon > Admin setting> Admin Pin > Enable/ Disable > Set it to DISABLED.

2/ The DataHub Firewall

By merging multiple data services into one operation, the Datahub can enhance the efficiency of the data connection. For instance, if GPS tracking is enabled, the unit can transmit a GPS tracking report and send and receive messages on PredictMail. As the Iridium GO! exec imposes a minimum billing increment of 5 kb, by consolidating these 2 tasks, significant data savings can be achieved instead of initiating a connection for each service independently. Additionally, you have the convenience of automating all these checks to save you time! This option is part of the DataHub setup process.

3/ PredictMail

The PredictMail service is an email client designed for the Iridium GO! exec and uses a fraction of the data size of regular email services such as Gmail / Apple Mail.

PredictMail and the Datahub take care of the compression and filtering when you’re connected to your boat’s satellite connection. This allows you to go from a mobile data connection in town to an offshore connection with your phone, tablet or laptop using any compatible app, and your email will automatically be compressed into a satellite-friendly format to minimise your data usage.

If you use regular email Apps such as Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail you will quickly use your data allowance. Each email on a regular email client will use, on average, 0.2MB, and cost up to US$1. Other weather Apps do not have the data-saving capabilities of PredictWind. For example, the PredictWind weather routing will use approximately 1% of the other client-based weather routing programs.

You are now ready to move onto Step 6: DataHub Setup