Satphones confused!

You need to buy a dedicated sat phone- a satellite sim card wont work in a normal phone. Refurbed units can be ok, alot of hire units are refurbed. I know here in WA there have been a number of auctions with equipment from exploration mining companies and there are always sat phones available.
FYI you can buy satellite sleeves that fit an iphone- not sure how well they work.
Tony

Not sure how many threads there are here on ExplorOz, but a lot of analysing has gone on over at 4x4 Earth !!
Hope it's ok to put a few links up here for the OP, I also link good threads from here to there quite often . . .

The most relevant and latest ones a quick search found . . .

http://4x4earth.com/forum/index.php?threads/iphone-to-satphone-case.28659/

http://4x4earth.com/forum/index.php?threads/sat-phones.28961/
Lots of good banter between Iridium and Inmarsat systems.

http://4x4earth.com/forum/index.php?threads/satellite-phones-for-touring.35770/
2015 thread, really good info again on reception / drop outs etc.

http://4x4earth.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-real-cost-my-bill-using-gsm-sim-in-iridium-satellite-phone.36717/

Have a read of this site.

I got a refurb globalstar phone and have been very happy with it. It is all about money you are prepared to spend on it

http://www.satphonesales.com.au/

Alan

I renew my prepaid Inmarsat satphone about this time every year before we travel. 6mths and 100 units costs $160 through satphonesales.com.au but there are all sorts of options for airtime.
You can purchase in advance and just activate before you leave.
But even with an expired SIM, the phone can make 000 emergency calls and it will still receive SMS messages which cost nothing for someone to send from the Inmarsat website. Just can't reply from the satphone.
We turn it on at beer o'çlock to check for messages.

I have had a 2nd hand Sat phone on the Globastar Network for a number of years when they had fewer sats in the sky, phone was out of the UK/Iraq. Kids phoned me for free during their Telstra My Hour, do not know if this is still available.

Now have an Inmarasat Phone, to me its expensive, especially as my sim is locked onto the org I purchased the phone from, other dealers have sat time at a cheaper rate, but not much cheaper. We seem to only use the phone to do the yearly test out to see if its working.( Thankfully)

Doing it again I would purchase a 2nd hand Iridium Sat phone and put in a Telstra from memory post paid sim card with roaming that can make calls ( We have a Telstra phone so would just remove the sim) , maybe a bit more cost if you make a lot of calls, but who cares for emergencies.

With roof top broomstick mobile phone aerials on top of the cruiser and caravan this still gives a lot of Telstra phone coverage when in remote locations.

Our sat phone setup

Bought a thuraya sat phone
$15 / month pivotel casual plan

Setup sat phone each night in camp

tell friends & family who want to catchup to call us
sat phone number is an aust mobile number
cost for calling sat phone the same as a mobile

cheap and easy

Depends on how you want to use it If its ONLY for YOUR emergencies you can use your sim card out of a Telstra mobile thats on a plan and has roaming enabled.

You can buy a Motorola 9505A or a 9555 and when out of mobile range just change the sim into the sat fone.
Only downside is the cost of the calls which is about $4 a minute both IN AND OUTWARDS
That is someone rings you on the satfone it costs them the usual mobile cost and costs YOU a diversion fee to the satfone.

Good if thats what you want or otherwise SEARCH Satfones on here and you will find a $10 a month plan on Iridium from Telstra. Thats the cheapest plan if you want to have it one for calls to and from home.
Our friends were told only to ring if some was dieing. Dont worry if they were dead an email would do.

Hi everyone.

I just bought a refurbed Sat phone from Sat Phone sales for 4375. I am on a casual plan of $20 per month plus calls with Globalstar. current call rate is $0.99 per minute. Great unit for the southern half of Oz. Its a bit marginal from about S.A Border north. Hope this helps.