Rick (S.A.) replied:

Bought one after witnessing same being used to launch a vehicle recovery on the Talawana track (remote W.A.) last year.

Used it in the Kimberly, Roper River, Canning Stock Route and Tanami Road regions this winter. No Probs.

The booklet says point the aerial towards the satellite, which is parked over Indonesia. So I just faced the aerial in a N- W direction.

As I did not have any other sat phone with me to bench mark against, it is impossible to say which is better. I dialled. The called party answered. How much better can you get than that?

Cheers

PS - I use Telstra mobile in regional & rural areas solely because the competitors (3, Optus, etc) sometimes do not provide coverage in some smaller, remoter localities. Next G worked in Halls Ck, Kununurra etc - just won't get coverage where there are not any recognised population centres.

Cheers

Member - John (Vic) replied:

A good second hand Iridium Phone used with a Telstra Next G Sim card would be a good and much cheaper alternative than Thuraya.

Member - John and Val replied:

"Service up in the Kimberley's (Gibb River Road etc.) is a must as this is the one place that Telstra's NextG definetely doesn't cover."

One of many. Telstra's 3G coverage is said to be much better than its competitors, and few would argue otherwise. BUT - generally speaking, coverage is restricted to areas which have sufficient population to justify installing the infrastructure. There are exceptions, notably politically sensitive places, where service may be available, but generally, when you get away from significant population centres you get away from the network. (A second issue is that not all areas with digital phone coverage also provide digital data handling - rare, but a nuisance if you were aiming to reach the internet via the 3G network.)

On a different note - It is good to have reliable communications if you are going into remote areas, i.e. areas where there will almost certainly be no passers-by in the next few days. But are you going anywhere remote???? If not, what's the worst that can happen if you can't talk to someone? Injured when you roll the vehicle on the Gibb River Road - you can expect help from passing traffic within minutes, much faster than phoning for help through some call centre in a capital city.

While I am a strong supporter of self reliance, I'd suggest give serious thought to just what dangers you are insulating yourself from by carrying a sat phone, and how you would use it in the event of an emergency.

Cheers

John

Member - Dunworkin (WA) replied:

Hi Name Not Found, we went through all this last year, we researched the Thuraya phone and at that time there was not much known about it and the worry of having to point to the only Satellite, along with the fact we had a couple of horendous issues with Globalstar/ Pivotel we went with the Iridium phone. Twelve months down the track (after the 12 month contract was up) we went into Telstra and got an ordianary Telstra Satellite sim card and put it in (got a way from the International number and costs) now all we pay is a 50c conection fee and $1.80 per minute to call out and to call in it is :
40c connection and $1.60 per minute. We are very happy with our phone now after all the major problems we had with the other one.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Deanna

Member - Mike DID replied:

"do you find it worth having even if it's not as good as the Iridium, ie. is it still significantly better than NextG? "

There's no point comparing a satellite service with NextG - satellite coverage is everywhere in Australia - except for Thuraya, which has no-coverage areas in South East Australia if you are in hilly country and you can't see the satellite which is fixed in the sky, 20 degrees above the horizon (in South East Australia).

Willem replied:

I have an 'old' Motorola 9500 Satellite phone bought 2nd hand in 2004.

I am with Telstra Iridium with an access charge of $30 per month and phone call charges OUT at around $2.20 per minute and $0.90 Messagebank retrieval. I get a $10 per month free call within the plan. Incoming calls are not charged to me. I cannot send Data or SMS on my phone

The phone is still on its original battery and works everywhere I have taken it including overseas in the southern hemisphere. Tough as old boots, it is.

It is cheap enugh insurance and contact for my annual travels into thew Never Never :-)

Cheers