Not all ISP's are equally bandwidth friendly

If possible choose an e-mail service that is specifically for e-mail only. If you are part of an organization with it's own e-mail server, this may be the best place to start.

MAFLink tested several different ISPs for sending e-mail with a mini-m phone. Results for Iridium phones would be similar.

Time/Cost comparison using a Mini-m
Method Total Size (5 e-mails) Time to Connect Ave. Data Rate (includes verification time) Total Time Connected Total cost ($2.15 /min) Cost per 1K
Maf.net (a private e-mail server) 81K 48 sec 325 bps 4 m 54 s $10.54 $0.13
Earthlink (a large ISP) 81K 45 sec 225 bps 6m 45s $14.51 $0.18
Dreamsoft (a small ISP) 81K 34 sec 227 bps 6 m 54 s $14.84 $0.18

Maf.net, the private e-mail server was significantly faster due to these factors:

  • Most private e-mail servers have far less traffic than most ISPs.
  • Maf.net is exclusively for e-mail. Most ISPs share bandwidth between e-mail and paging (web surfing), giving priority to web surfing.

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