Using A Skylink With Red Box Router

  

Testing your Skylink satellite system when connected via a Red Box Router

Pre Requisites:

  • Activated airtime - see current Skylink data plans here and contact us to schedule your activation (you'll need to return a short airtime form, so allow some time for this when planning your testing)
  1. Power on the Red Box and wait for it to do a triple beep
  2. Turn on Iridium Certus Skylink and wait for it to completely power on (static blue light)
  3. Via WiFi, connect your chosen device with the Red Box WiFi network. You will need to enter the WiFi password to connect initially and this can be found on the white sticker on the router itself. You will get a message that you have no internet connection - that is expected.
  4. Navigate to the Red Box router's portal or control page by typing the following into the address bar of a web browser (do not enter this in a search bar and do not add anything before or after the text: redbox/
  5. Save this page as a book mark or use the 'add to home screen' option if you are using a mobile phone or tablet to save this as an icon
  6. Click the ‘connect to internet’ button, select the Skylink as your gateway and leave the default set to 'this device only' and then select either firewall mode 3 or 4. Observe that you see green/blue boxes confirming these choices.
  7. In a new browser tab, type 192.168.110.1 to go to the Skylink's web portal page
  8. Log in (if applicable) with admin/admin as the user name and password and navigate to the 'connection manager'. Set the data routing to 'satellite only' and the firewall to 'unrestricted' and remember to press 'save' on this screen to register these choices.
IMPORTANT: that these instructions only apply if you are using a Red Box router with your Skylink! If you do not have a Red Box as part of your set up, do NOT select 'unrestricted' as your firewall choice when using the Skylink for satellite data

Final Test

  • Test the satellite service by sending/receiving an email using your previously configured & tested mailasail account (teleport-it)
  • If successful, well done. You are all set up!

Ending a data session

Once you have finished receiving and sending your email, it is important that you now take steps to terminate the ability to send/receive data. In the same way that you turned the data on in two places, you now need to disconnect the data session in two places by following these steps:

  • Going back to your tab with the Skylink portal page (or go to 192.168.110.1) and use the 'connection manager' screen again to set the data routing back to 'none' and the firewall to 'blocked'.
It is vital that you press 'save' on this screen, otherwise the data connection will remain open!
  • Take a final look at the 'status' screen to be absolutely sure that you have now disconnected the satellite data session.

In general, this is a good finishing point, as we recommend that you make a note of the data counters regularly in your ship's logs so that you can quickly identify any blips, especially in the early days of using the system.

  • Finally, go back to your tab with the Red Box portal page (or go to redbox/) and use the 'connect to internet' button again to now select the 'disconnect internet' option. Confirm this screen and check that you now see an orange box confirming that you are no connected to the internet