Airtime Services
Beam Airtime Services
At Beam, we offer services for Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) and the Iridium Push-to-Talk services that specifically support Enterprise and Government clients.
The Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) Service is a simple and efficient network transport capability for transmitting short data messages between equipment and centralised host computer systems. It is integrated by Iridium’s Value-Added Resellers into vertical market applications in industries such as Oil & Gas, Rail, Maritime, Utilities and Government/Military.
The Iridium Push-to-Talk (PTT) Service puts Iridium’s unique global constellation of 66 cross-linked Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites in your hands and lets you connect in the same way as you would with terrestrial-based trunked radio systems — without having to build infrastructure.
Our ability to provide these services to direct and indirect customers complements our products and gives easy access to distribution partners that may not be selling these services directly.
Airtime services typically have a fixed minimum recurring monthly fee followed by usage or excess usage depending on the chosen plan.
For more information about the Beam Communications Push-To-Talk Airtime Service, view next page.
When push comes to shove, push your network beyond limits
- Iridium SBD enables fast, easy, and secure Tracking and Monitoring- anywhere on the planet
- Wherever your operations take you, Iridium SBD has you covered, including out of range of traditional networks
- Adaptable to meet a variety of communications needs
- Made for high frequency – low volume messaging
Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) is a data service used for sending and receiving short data messages, typically a few hundred bytes, over the Iridium satellite network. It's designed for applications requiring global coverage, remote monitoring, and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. SBD is particularly useful for applications where frequent short data transmissions are needed, such as asset tracking, remote telemetry, and pipeline monitoring.
- Reliable and Cost-Effective: SBD is designed to be a cost-effective way to transmit small amounts of data, making it suitable for many applications.
- Two-Way Messaging: SBD enables two-way communication, allowing for both sending and receiving data.
- Short Latency: While the latency depends on the message size, it's generally quite low, with short messages delivering in about 5 seconds, and longer messages in around 20 seconds.
- Low-Power: SBD is often delivered through small, lightweight, low-power modules, which is ideal for remote applications.
- Flexible Data Transmission: SBD can handle a range of message sizes, and some services allow data pooling to reduce overage fees.
- Secure Communication: Many SBD services offer encryption for secure data transmission.
Message size can vary depending on the transceiver being used. All transceivers with the model number 96XX have a message sending capability of 340 bytes and message receiving of 270 bytes. If a transceiver with a model number of 95XX is used, the message sending capability is much larger at 1960 bytes and message receiving of 1890 bytes. Most common message size is around 20bytes. Messages being delivered from the remote devices can be delivered to up to 5 addresses with any being: Email / IP Address or IMEI number. The most common is IP Address.
At SatPhone Shop, through our parent company, Beam Communications we can offer our customers a range of Iridium Short Burst data solutions across both hardware and airtime options. We manage thousands of devices for our customers. We deliver data directly from your device, via the Iridium gateway to you, so we don’t see your data. Many other providers intercept the data from the iridium gateway, to run it through their network before passing it onto you. This is of course less secure and add an additional point of failure for your data.
Activating an SBD service does not require a SIM card, it only requires the IMEI number of the Iridium transceiver, and activations once done by us or on our portal and active usually in 5-10 minutes.
SatPhone Shop offers a range of standard SBD plans depending on your needs. If you don’t see a plan that suits, please contact us and we can see if we can make a custom plan specific to your needs.
SBD plans come in 2 types of plans. Static plans which are generally lower cost per month, but any included data in the plan is only usable by that device. These plans typically suit smaller fleets of devices with very consistent usage each month.
SBD plans also come as “Pooled or Dynamic “plans. This means the included data for each device can be shared by other devices. For example, a fleet of 20 trucks with a 12kb pooled plan, means the total pool available is 240kb which can be used by all or 1 truck. These plans work well for larger fleets with varying usage each month.
Products that can support Short Burst Data:
Satellite Modems & Modules | M2M & IoT Data Solutions | SatPhone Shop
We can also just provide SBD to your existing supported products as well.
Beam SBD Static Plans - All prices include GST.
| SBDS0 | SBDS8 | SBDS12 | SBDS17 | SBDS30 | |
| Monthly fee – per service | $26.00 | $23.00 | $33.00 | $38.50 | $65.00 |
| Bytes included | 0 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 17,000 | 30,000 |
| Activation Fee (Once Off) | FREE | $75.00 | $75.00 | $75.00 | $75.00 |
| Monthly fee for Suspended service | $5.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Excess Data usage | $1.95 | $3.25 | $1.95 | $2.55 | $1.95 |
| Min Contract Period | 6 Months | 6 Months | 6 Months | 6 Months | 6 Months |
| Min billable message size | 30 bytes | 10 bytes | 10 bytes | 10 bytes | 10 bytes |
| Mailbox Check (per event) | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 |
| SBD Registration (per event) | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 |
Beam Pooled Plans – All prices include GST.
| SBDP 12 | SBDP17 | SBDP30 | |
| Monthly fee – per service | $38.50 | $45.00 | $70.00 |
| Bytes included | 12,000 | 17,000 | 30,000 |
| Activation Fee (Once Off) | $35.00 | $35.00 | $35.00 |
| Monthly fee for Suspended service | $5.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Excess Data usage | $3.25 | $2.55 | $1.95 |
| Min Contract Period | 6 Months | 6 Months | 6 Months |
| Min billable message size | 10 bytes | 10 bytes | 10 bytes |
| Mailbox Check (per event) | $0.05 | $0.05 | $0.05 |
| SBD Registration (per event) | $0.05 | $0.05 |
$0.05 |
Our customers can manage all their devices by our Online portal for usage, usage alerts, activating, suspending and deactivating devices. (min quantity 10 devices required)
Our online portal accessible anywhere where you have internet access and controlled by your unique username and password. Once logged in you have full access to your existing devices, to view any usage alerts, change / update delivery addresses, suspend or deactivate devices. The portal also has a record of your monthly bills. You can also add new services and have them active in 5-10 minutes. The portal is available 24x7 and updates are also available when you are.
Portal Screen once logged in.
View your bills.
View and modify your devices
Add new devices
View any usage alerts
Additional Resources
Beam 9602N Developers guide: https://www.beamcommunications.com/document/315-9602n-developers-guide-revision-by-beam
Beam 9602 / 9602N Modem USB Driver: https://www.beamcommunications.com/document/343-9602-and-9602n-sbd-modem-usb-driver
To talk to Beam about SBD, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.