Migrating Russian Eagles Run Up Huge Data Roaming Charges

Russian scientists tracking migrating eagles ran out of money after some of the birds flew to Iran and Pakistan and their SMS transmitters drew huge data roaming charges. The BBC reports: After learning of the team's dilemma, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon offered to cancel the debt and put the project on a special, cheaper tariff. The team had started crowdfunding on social media to pay off the bills. The birds left from southern Russia and Kazakhstan. The journey of one steppe eagle, called Min, was particularly expensive, as it flew to Iran from Kazakhstan. Min accumulated SMS messages to send during the summer in Kazakhstan, but it was out of range of the mobile network. Unexpectedly the eagle flew straight to Iran, where it sent the huge backlog of messages.

The price per SMS in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (18p; 30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all the eagles. Megafon's offer to bail out the team, reported by RIA Novosti news, means they can continue monitoring the eagles' routes, collecting vital data to help their survival.

That's pretty stupid...

[BAReFO0t]

Grabbing every handout you can get, is the most capitalist for-profit thing there is! ;)

The logical conclusion of profit maximization is literally "Give them NOTHING. But take from them EVERYHING!". :)

And the bailouts and tax avoidance and monopolistic behavior and vendor lock-in and shitty rip-offs of corporations show, that they produly live by that mantra.

Also, they are EAGLES!
Living the capitalist ideal!
Grabbinv money from Russians... to invade Iran!
And isn't that the most American thing you ever heard?

This typo was produly presented by me!

[BAReFO0t]

Only $59.99 if you plan on grabbinv more!

Re:

[Rick Schwuleman]

I'd pay $59.99 to see real news on Slashdot again.

Re:

[hraponssi]

the proud typo you can go grabbinv more of for just $59.99. only for you my friend

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

Naah, US eagles would have used AT&T and only had coverage in about three locations, so no SMS charges. However, AT&T lobbyists would have informed congress that they had 176% coverage in all areas so nothing to see here, and thanks for the subsidies.

Not the eagles. The scientists!

[BAReFO0t]

I'd love to see the NSA charge ME for spying on me ... ... although, they probably do, now that I think about it ...

Re:

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

It's called taxes.

Queue all the "In Soviet Russia" jokes....

[Gavino]

In Soviet Russia, birds text YOU!
How did I do?

I hate the f**king Eagles!

[sizzzzlerz]

Obligatory quote

Re:

[nnet]

There's no R in Ju-ly.

Science

[bob122989]

Talk about flipping science the bird...

Ridiculousness of roaming charges

[r2kordmaa]

Roaming charges in general are ridiculous, there is basically no competitive advantage to offering reasonable prices so telcos bill whatever they can get away with. EU already capped roaming charges to something reasonable, but that's only inside EU. So there is an example on how to deal with this issue, it's just a matter of getting more governments around the world to agree to follow with similar legislation.

Well, "what the market will bear" is already ...

[BAReFO0t]

... morally clearly unacceptable.

It is literally extortion.

And since it also means the price is not attached to the actual cost (natural resources + a string of work),
the part that goes beyond that actual cost is also fraud/usury/theft/robbery.

Re:

[Paul Carver]

What are you talking about?

No one in any even slightly free country is compelled to sell anything, let alone compelled to sell it for what it cost them to produce it. While it is possible to confiscate the past products of people's work, it is generally impossible to force people to keep producing once you've demonstrated the willingness to deprive them of the profit they thought they would receive. They'll either stop working or find different work that isn't subject to having their work output confiscated

Let me guess...

[DidgetMaster]

whoever programmed the tracker decided to have it send a SMS message every 5 minutes instead of once a week. What could go wrong?

Damn Russians

[ebonum]

First the Democrats, and now they have been caught red handed spying on eagles!

Undocumented immigrants

[110010001000]

Oughtta build a wall to keep those eagles out.

Re:

[weilawei]

Pretty sure that building a wall just makes better nesting spots.

Satellite messaging

[timeOday]

I am just waiting for the day when regular cellphones can talk to satellites and there is coverage everywhere for a decent price. I know transmitting would take too much power for much bandwidth, but even if it were just bursting SMS-length text messages, it would be something.

Re:

[Mal-2]

Isn't that called Starlink?

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Isn't that called Starlink?

No, it's called Ubiquitilink [techcrunch.com]. Starlink won't work because of the antenna required [reddit.com].

Re:

[satsuke]

Iridium has had that capacity for years ..but they're late 90s level phones at best.

Re:

[mysidia]

I know transmitting would take too much power for much bandwidth

That is not necessarily the problem; you need about 2.3 watts for a phone that uses LEO satellites -- its not massively different from what a cellphone requires. See Inmarsat / Iridium. Unfortunately there's basically one player here with essentially a monopoly on L-band satellite comms. So a "Low cost" plan for satellite comms will give you 10 minutes talk for about $50 a month, and one can expect to pay more than $1 per kilobyte of d

Re: Satellite messaging

[anonymouscoward52236]

They tried strapping a satellite phone to a bird, but the brick made the bird unable to flap its wings to fly.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

That is not necessarily the problem; you need about 2.3 watts for a phone that uses LEO satellites -- its not massively different from what a cellphone requires. See Inmarsat / Iridium. Unfortunately there's basically one player here with essentially a monopoly on L-band satellite comms. So a "Low cost" plan for satellite comms will give you 10 minutes talk for about $50 a month, and one can expect to pay more than $1 per kilobyte of data, But it sounds like its still much cheaper than the roaming charges.

N

Min is ...

[CaptainDork]

... sexting, looking for a mate.

Sorry, low hanging fruit.

Brilliant, scientists

[Some Guy I Dont Know]

Researcher #1: Hey, we've got these birds that migrate all over the continent. How we can track them?
Researcher #2: I know! I'll attach our cell phone to the bird, and wherever it goes, the phone will call home to tell us.

time passes

Researcher #1: Oh, crap, have you seen the phone bill?
Researcher #2: Who would have ever imagined that a continent wide migrating bird would have carried our constantly online cell phone out of the immediate area?!

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

It sounds like they bought the trackers on AliExpress or something. There are special industrial grade SIM cards for this specific purpose, which you can either disable roaming on or have a special plan that gets you decent rates in most countries. They are also industrial temperature range and all that so more likely to survive being attached to a bird.

Re:

[del_diablo]

I am not sure if "most countries" includes the third world thats south of Russia, squeezed in between Turkey and China somewhere.

Ruble

[Dennis C. Fait]

Ruble is the correct spelling. I suspect that rouble is a British affectation and should be avoided to protect your reputation as an educated person.

Eagles may soar

[drinkypoo]

Eagles may soar, but weasels never get slammed with high roaming charges.

Maturity

[Anonymous Crowded]

See, not EVERY bird should have a smartphone. My conures' ipads are set to wifi-only; the cockatiel can roam wherever he wants because he barely use it, and the lovebird, as you may suspect, has a 3-button phone-home cell.