[bobetter]

I think you are missing the point here. To send/receive email, one must also be "connected to the internet", how you do that (cel, sat phone,wifi, etc) doesn't matter.

No, I actually think you're missing the point. You can have email over HF (SSB radio) with sailmail or winmail but not have access to the 'net', i.e. able to access web pages and upload/download from the internet. HF email is cheap, proven, albeit slow, and is what most world cruiser still rely on, and will continue to rely on until satellite communications (such as the various hand held satellite phones) get better coverage and cheaper costs. Most offshore boats will have a SSB onboard with pactor modems, and thus email communications is possible while net access is not realistic, unless you have deep pockets. On most cruising budgets satellite communications is still a real luxury that they cannot afford.

Scot

Wow, this discussion quickly became one of apples and oranges. With all due respect, the advantages of SSB data transfer over others (sat comms for ocean work, cel or wifi for coastal work and good ol' copper wire when ashore) isn't what I'm talking about. Since I don't use SSB (and I know of many others who don't either) thats not really of interest to me, nor to prospective users of grib.us.

What HAS piqued my interest, tho, are the economies afforded by their transfer method. I would hazard a guess, also, that there are far more GRIBs being downloaded by non SSB systems (a lot of sailors never get into SSB or sat comms-only areas). BTW, nothing would prevent grib.us from adding email as a delivery method, unless they saw no advantage to it. I would again refer you to their forum to suggest it.

Now, having said this, perhaps we should start a new thread debating the pros and cons of SSB vs Sat Comms? I would welcome your knowledge/experience and would be happy to share mine!

Bob "Satellite Rocks" Etter