kipper

I searched, but the latest thread seems to be over a year old... Here's my situation.

Mr. Kipper and my FIL go on hunting trips at least once a year, to some middle of nowhere places out west. These are places where cell phones don't work, and they've decided they'd like having the security of a satellite phone in case of emergency, because it can take an hour to drive to where one has cell phone reception.

Their trips are usually 1-2 weeks in length, and are usually in the fall, but not always the same weeks/months.

They have some experience with Globalstar, but really think they want an Iridium. My FIL has decided that he wants to buy a phone, not rent one.

They are looking at buying a refurbished Iridium phone, and buying prepaid minutes.

Their questions:

• Which Iridium phone is best?
• Has anyone used the Iridium GO! device? If you have, what were your experiences with it?

ScottC

I wouldn't go with Iridium, and definitely not with the GO!. Instead, go with Inmarsat.

Airtime on Inmarsat is cheaper and phones are smaller. A used IsatPhone Pro on eBay should go for around $350 and a starter sim with some airtime is $50. Inmarsat airtime also lasts longer - 90 days instead of 1 month (on the lowest 75 minute plan) on Iridium. Airtime is around $1/minute cheaper than on Iridium on a 50 unit card, which lasts 90 days. The iSatPhone Pro has a pretty large antenna, good battery life and cheap replacement batteries. It also charges off MicroUSB so a backup battery pack is really cheap for it. You can do SMS, phone, email and more on the handset, plus you can send messages to it for free using the Inmarsat site. It also supports sending GPS location through SMS, something that is really handy if they setting in a camp for a while, making it very safe to let people at home know where they are.

The GO! is downright dreadful - extremely slow, and cumbersome to setup and use. It also has a really small antenna, so getting a fix takes forever.

The one thing ALL satellite phone need is a clear view of the sky - without that, they just don't work right.

Another alternative if he just wants to be safe is the Delorme InReach. It uses Iridium to do 2-way communication, but no voice calls. I wasn't too impressed with it, but it is cheap: http://www.inreachdelorme.com/

WIRunner

My days in wireless the support trucks would carry two competitor phones (partly to test their network, and partly to be able to communicate if there was a major catastrophe and nothing was working, like a tornado or hurricane.) They all had the Iridium phones. It has been a while since I've looked at them, and I forgot that they are quite expensive for both the device, and the service.

I did happen to come across a free promotion for a device with a service contract for a Global star phone, still not cheap, but certainly makes it less painful.

http://www.g-comm.us/Globalstar-Airt.../gsairtime.htm

In the end though, if they're going only for 1-2 weeks a year, and that is the only time they're using it, renting would make more sense in the long run, no worry about maintaining equipment nor having monthly fees.

kipper

Renting is out. My FIL wants to buy one.

kipper

Their concern with Inmarsat is that if they go to Alaska, it looks like Inmarsat doesn't have much coverage there.

Clear view of the sky usually isn't a problem where they are.

For Inmarsat, are incoming calls at no charge? Apparently, that's one of the Iridium features, and they'd like that.

WIRunner

They do get free incoming calls. However, most telcos bill these as an international call, if they even allow the call to go through. The satellite phone networks are often blocked, and when they're not it is expensive to call them. For instance, Inmarsat doesn't bill the inbound call, but they reverse toll the caller, a Verizon Wireless caller will pay $9.00 per minute to call an Inmarsat phone, and $6 per minute for a Globalstar or Iridium phone. AT&T is $4.50 to $11.50, T-Mobile is upwards of $15 (though this is plan dependent) and Sprint is $9.99 regardless.

kipper

Yikes! Thanks!

aster

Seems like a useful feature - something from the "last things to do before calling it a night" check-list to keep relatives informed of one's whereabouts.

I'm still looking for an option for my parents who go on cruises and are often at sea for days at a time (and ships know very well to stay far enough from the shore to stay out of cell-tower range - thanks to this they sell thousands of data passes each day, or ensure people purchase longer ones).

I'm also wondering whether coverage will be an issue, though I don't think they have Alaska on their mind.

When it comes to pricing, what is best for someone who wants annual coverage (but only say 200 minutes/yr), or at the very least something that they can just top up 2-3 times/yr (without being disconnected entirely and having to register again) to keep the phone working for a month each time?

Centurion

Cruise ships that go up way to Norway and above and are in the Fiords have issues with almost every type of communication.

aster

Doesn't Inmarsat cover everything between -82/+82 latitude? Also, Iridium should be global.

Either way, the furthest I expect them to go in terms of going way down south/north is sailing around Australia from the southern side.

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

Iridium satellites are in low earth orbit, ~485 miles. Inmarsat satellites are in GEO, ~22,000 miles, so there will be a somewhat noticeable lag with Inmarsat, in addition to their poorer high latitudes coverage.

SRQ Guy

My experience is limited to Carnival, but these days the price to make cell phone calls to the US on Carnival is $0.99 per minute. I'm not sure it'd be worth the hassle of a satellite phone if that is standard across the industry. Have you checked to see what the cost is on their cruise line of choice?

nmenaker

I'm not sure about Inmarsat, I think only the Inmarsat SUBSCRIPTION plans can get free incoming, the pre-paids are per minute. And of course as you pointed out, the cost to CALL an inmarsat can be anywhere from 7.5-13$ a minute from my most recent review.

That said the phones do work well and the cost is relatively cheap compared to all the other providers, however, the rates did go up last fall about 30%, and the lowest one can get on the pre-paid plans is about 1.35$ a minute. Maybe more if you buy buckets of 2000+ minutes, but anything in the 50-500 range is 1.35$.. still cheapISH, but more than the 1$ it used to be.

ScottC

Inmarsat is far more economical with text/email. Phone is pretty much overrated nowadays anyway, and a text is free to send using their site. If you don't hear back within say 30 minutes, you can then go through the hassle of a phone call.

aster

Interesting. For Iridium is there a very good phone on the market that someone can recommend? Also, what kind of plans are we looking at for between 2 to 3 one-month-long stretches of use in a year (with the phone switched off at most other times)?