I'll have to see if I can dig up where they came from.

gfunkdave is correct that the antennas on phones have an 360 degree antenna. I found when using Thuraya/Inmarsat that pointing the antenna in the direction of the satellite (aka not blocking the satellite with a tree or my body) the connections were higher quality. For Inmarsat, the three satellites are essentially over the Galapagos, Congo, and Papua New Guinea. Example Map: https://www.groundcontrol.com/images...nmarsat_02.jpg

I can't speak if the newer Iridium phones (or the new NEXT satellites) have better audio quality, but the Iridium 9505A's I used sounded like talking over a tin can/string network when compared to the the Inmarsat/Thuraya phone connections.