The satphone rates are cheaper than I expected: As low as $4 per day for the handset plus $1.60/minute outgoing voice calls, $0.69 outgoing texts, free incoming calls and texts.

Some nations where satphones are illegal: China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Angola, the countries of former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro and Albania), Myanmar (Burma) and India.

Last year my driver in India told me that he had seen a lot of police in the general area of my hotel that morning, because they had detected that someone was using a satphone.