Member - Fifo posted:

Yes, well I posted mainly to let others know that I think Inmarsat is a good alternative, especially if you can pick up the phone for a reasonable price.

Sounds like you're on a good deal with Optus Mobilesat; do you only pay for the call costs? If so, that's even better than what I'm on.

No, I don't know what satellite band Inmarsat is on.

Regards,
Peter

Member - Olcoolone (S.A) posted:

The phone is on a $35.00 per month plan.

The other thing is we can also run a cordless phone off it and use it in our camper trailer and hotel room.

It gives us about 400m range from the vehicle

Regards Richard

Member - Fifo posted:

Actually, it was a comment that you made in a post on satellite phones that prompted me to checkout the Inmarsat option. The only issue I had was that all the Australian providers of airtime wished to charge between $200 & $360 per year.

Asta used to provide more plans but now only provide the one plan. So, that's why I went with Selex, only pay for calls made.

Yes, I'm very happy and thanks to your comment in an earlier post, I now have a very good satellite phone that was both cheap to buy and cheap to run.

Not only that, the build quality of these Thrane & Thrane phones looks like they'll last forever.

Member - bushfix posted:

only one plan now eh?

i had the option of $200 per year for calls at $1.90 per min or no fees at all and calls at $2.60 per min. No minimum calls.

yep, Mark at Electrotech is a very canny and helpful fella.

well done mate. if you don't have it, you can find a pdf of the manual on the web.

Member - Fifo posted:

Yer, well each to their own I guess. I don't consider paying $35 per month, when I may only use the phone for one month out of twelve, to be exactly cheap. If you're on the road full-time, then fair enough.

I have a Wizard Mastercard which does not charge extra fees for foreign currency. So, current exchange rate, USD 1.50 is approx. AUD 1.67 per minute.

And, with the way the US dollar is going, it'll be at parity before too long.

As far as Globalstar is concerned, I would not own a Gloablstar phone if I needed it for an emergency. I rented one last August for a Simpson crossing and sometimes I had to wait 30 to 45 minutes before I could make a call. And, then typically the call would drop out.

So, the bagging Globalstar receive on this forum is valid. Until Globalstar fix their problems, then all the bagging they receive is deserved.

But, if Globalstar fix their problems, then the bagging will stop. There is no doubt that the voice quality on Globalstar is excellent, when connected.

But, Inmarsat have been around for a long time, and now provide high speed Internet options (very, very expensive), so I don't see them going away, so, I'm more than happy with my choice.

Axel [ the real one ] posted:

Seems some people cant do simple maths or read a reply properly ,, $35 per mth on a mth to mth basis , NO 12 mth contract at all and 10min of calls included , and the problems are as good as fixed already ,, funny that ,, while at Windorah the Globalstar /Pivotel worked and the next --------- door campers iridium did NOT,

Member - Fifo posted:

Let's do some simple maths, eh...

Inmarsat AUD 30 / 1.67 = 20.9 minutes worth of calls

Globalstar AUD 30 includes AUD 10 / 0.90 = 11.1 minutes of calls

So, pray tell, am I missing?

Member - Fifo posted:

Let's post what I calculated, not what I typed...

Let's do some simple maths, eh...

Inmarsat AUD 35 / 1.67 = 20.9 minutes worth of calls

Globalstar AUD 35 includes AUD 10 / 0.90 = 11.1 minutes of calls

So, pray tell, what am I missing?

Axel [ the real one ] posted:

What your missing is that you no longer have to have a "contract" with Pivotel / Globalstar for any lenght of time , can now do month by month and cancel at any time , also that the per min price has effectivly been halved from .90c per 30sec to .45c per 30 sec.

Member - Fifo posted:

Well, after providing an appalling service for the last few years, they obviously have to do something to attract customers back.

As I said, my experience with Globalstar in the Simpson last August was enough for me. Even if they halved their call costs to 45 cents per minute, I would not be a Globalstar customer.

Inmarsat have an excellent reputation and that's what I want if I need to make an emergency call. I want it to work 24/7.

Member - Fifo posted:

Adrian,

No, the whole of Australia is covered. The coverage map you're looking at is for the new high speed Internet access; they haven't yet launched their high speed satellite in the Pacific ocean, which will then provide high speed Internet access for all of Australia.

But, for voice using mini-M, all of Australia plus the rest of the world is covered, except for the North & South poles. I live in Sydney and called my wife in Ireland the other day, on a Vodaphone mobile, just to test voice quality.

Based on some comments I received whilst talking to various airtime Inmarsat providers in Australia, I got the impression that possibly Inmarsat would shutdown their mini-M service.

So, before I bought the phone on eBay, I decided to call Inmarsat direct in the UK and asked them several questions. He said that they had no plans to discontinue their existing voice capability.

And, also as a result of that call, the guy emailled me an Excel spreadsheet containg a list of all the companies in the world that can connect you to the Inmarsat network.

I called Selex first up, they seemed helpful to deal with and I was happy with USD 1.50 per minute call cost. I suspect if I had called around and bargained, I probably could've gotten a better deal.

Peter