To me, this is not extremely long range, in comparison to a Pactor modem over HF, which can reach over 1000 miles, as I've seen on a sailboat passage from Hawaii to California. It requires more power - 150 watts or so, if I recall correctly, and bit rates can be low as a few bits (not bytes) per second with poor propagation. Being able to stay in contact with family in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is pretty awesome.