Just wanted to inform anyone that relies on this for system notifications
etc. Skytel lost a satellite feed and all of their 2-Way pagers are down.
I called them and they told me that it had been down since 5:00pm CST and
they hoped to have it back 'soon'.
As well as regular "Skyword" pagers. We confirm your time, as we
saw it about 7p Eastern, and a VERY WEIRD (Completely garbled, no time
stamp) message at 5p Eastern. Saw on the local news tonite that it was
"knocked out of orbit". The phone person just has said "Satellite problems".
Both TV and Skytel say they are NOT the only ones that count on
that satellite, so it might be worth some peace of mind to run a test of
your pager.
From what I gathered from PanAmSat's NOC, they lost contact with Galaxy
4's primary and backup controllers, but are still in communication with it
via omnimode. They've turned off power to the payload to conserve energy,
and are suggesting to people to implement their contingency plans.
MobileComm apparently has plans to use a backup satellite, but they don't
expect their service to be online for another 7 or 8 hours.