timglobal replied:

Hey Rick,

Are you dialling without 00 or + when on the Optus GSM network?

That may work, but when in sat areas my experience is that it only takes it numbers in international dial format, so best to change all numbers to that.

There are simple (free) programs which will do it for you.

Cheers,

Tim

Member - Footloose replied:

"has been observed by me as easy to use in remote parts of Oz, in 2008"

More detail please ...?

Member - Jinki & Harry replied:

We had a Globalstar sat phone and found it did not work in the Simpson, the most important place we needed reception if we had a problem - Globalstar satellites had fallen out of the sky for 6 mths before we got there, but Globalstar didn't tell us that.
Last year purchased Iridium with Telstra and used in the Simpson, and in north west WA - the Kimberley. Extremely good reception - just dial the area code plus number and it works. Also for international calling, just dial the out codee ie 1100 then the country code etc and that works - we have been ringing Paris regularly with no trouble getting connection. We are on a plan but consider this small insurance for our safety! Might be a bit more expensive but proof is in the pudding.
Jinki

Rossc0 replied:

"1. seriously cheaper than alternates"

How much is seriously cheaper.

Last I looked about 1 month ago an Motrola 9555 with all accessories (these are standard, external aerial, car kit, etc) was $2900.

If I wanted the Thuraya with the same accessories it was at least $2600 (as I could not get a firm price on an external aerial, although it could have been included in the car kit) and these were all addons.

"2. ..."

All satphones need to have there aerial near to vertical when in use. The motrolas are easier to do this as the aerial can be moved to keep it vertical when the microphone is in front of your mouth.

"3. can dial a number, or text as you would on any regular mobile phone - no need for + signs, or country code prefixes."

Likewise on iridium just dial the number directly. Also using the plus sign is incorrect, when at the start of a phone number it means insert international dialing code here not use a plus sign.

"4. can get a 3 month plan from Optus, which will cover my major period of intended use - about to do the CSR in June, as well as the above trip."

I currently use a Motrola 9500 and I use it with a telstra sim with international roaming. Therefore my satphone number is the same as my mobile phone number. Cost $10 per month and can be turned on/off as required.

Cost's about $3 per minute and appears to be charged by the second, never really bothered to work it out.

"5. despite a poor manual, the phone is relatively intuitive to use
with regard to contacts, texting, dictionary etc."

Manual is written english not chinglish very easy to understand but phone is intuitive anyway.

For a direct side by side comparison of the 9555 and Thuraya see March 2009 Overlander.

And you can pickup second hand 9500 or 9505 for under $1000, just make sure the battery will take a charge as there about $200 to buy.

When the one satellite fails (Murphy says it will) how are you going to make that emergency call. Iridium has multiple satellites.

Cheers
Ross