From March 1 to April 8, 2011, the ACeS Garuda satellite covering the Asia-Pacific area (Zone A) will be in the “eclipse season,” a regular period where the satellite has limited exposure to its power source, the sun. As a result, you may experience some instances when you will not be able to connect to ACeS Garuda.

 

Should you experience difficulty connecting to ACeS Garuda while you’re in ZONE A, we advise you to LOCK-IN TO INMARSAT F1 SATELLITE covering the Asia-Pacific area. Please note that USING INMARSAT F1 SATELLITE CHANNEL NUMBERS COVERING ZONE A WILL BE CHARGED THE SAME AS USING ACES GARUDA.  This means you can still enjoy the affordable rate of P15/minute (calls to Philippine numbers- SMART or PLDT) while in Zone A, even when locked in to Inmarsat.

 

To lock-in to INMARSAT F1 follow the instructions below:

 

1.        Point your antenna to 143.5° E

2.        Press #52*. When LCD displays “Channel Number?” or “CH:”, enter the Channel Number based on your location followed by a # sign. (CLICK HERE for channel numbers you can use per location)

Example:  To use channel number 38, Press 38#

3.        Replace handset back on hook and wait until LCD displays “SEARCHING” followed by “ACeS”* with a full black circle and signal bars

*FR-190 an FR-190G will still display “ACeS” even if you’re locked into INMARSAT. Fleetphone will display “INMARSAT”

4.        You may now place your call

 

Please refer to this table to use INMARSAT channel numbers that apply the same ACeS Garuda ZONE A rates.

 

For further assistance, please e-mail us at smartlink@smart.com.ph or call *888 using your SMART Link terminal.

 

Thank you for your continued patronage.

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

ACeS GARUDA SPOT BEAM & CHANNEL NUMBER MAP

 

OVERLAPPING GARUDA AND INMARSAT F1 CHANNEL NUMBERS