Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 16:21
Hi guys,
I've also been thinking about the Iridium 9555 on Telstra using my NextG sim card. I spoke to a salesperson in
Perth today from an independent supplier, aiming to find out the best price to purchase a handset outright. Looking at Ebay and some other suppliers, I know you can purchase a
satellite phone for cheaper than $2695.
After some surfing, I read the Telstra Mobile
Satellite Service Customer Terms available from the bottom of this page:
http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/network_info/satellite.cfm
Section 6 provides information pertaining to "Charges for using a Telstra cellular mobile SIM card in a
satellite handset/device".
According to their Terms and Conditions Section 6.7 (as on 03 June 2010):
If you use a Telstra Mobile (GSM) SIM card in a
satellite service handset/device your service coverage:
(a) in Australia will be limited to the coverage of Telstra’s GSM mobile network;
and
(b) outside Australia will be limited to the coverage of Telstra’s GSM mobile network and international roaming service.
So, by the letter of their own laws, the Salesman was correct in stating that you can use the Iridium network within the Telstra GSM mobile network.
HOWEVER:
I fail to see how Telstra could enforce this. And anecdotally, many members of this
forum have recently stated that their phones work outside of usual GSM range.
So what we have is acknowledgment by Telstra that the SIM cards will indeed work in Iridium 9xxx series phones, however they only guarantee them to work in GSM coverage areas.
Denying access to stations outside of GSM coverage would be technically improbable if you consider that to do this the
Satellite Phone (which operates on an entirely different band to GSM/NextG) would either have to pinpoint/use GSM towers (which they can't), or locate the station's position on the map and overly it accurately against a map of network coverage This seems unlikely for two reasons - the logistics of pinpointing someone's location accurately on a map from one
satellite, and the fact that Telstra and Iridium are businesses - with the daylight robbery their users willingly let them get away with when using ordinary post-paid NextG SIM cards, why would they deny the calls?
What the Salesman did say, likely as an attempted sales pitch, was that he had spoken to many Telstra clients who had used the NextG SIM trick, who reported that the reliability of connecting to satellites with these non-
satellite SIMs was decreasing. He stated that many customers were changing over to his SIM cards and billing arrangements.
Are there any Telstra post-paid users who can verify that the reliability of connecting to satellites has decreased in recent times?
Also, would people be able to kindly provide what model of Iridium
phone they have had work with Telstra post-paid SIMs?
Charles
________________________
Charles Jenkinson
Perth, Western Australia
Gracie "The
Grey Ghost"
1991 Toyota Landcruiser GXL
4.2L Turbo Diesel
358,133km and counting!
AnswerID:
419399
Follow Up By: Mike DiD - Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 16:47
Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 16:47
My Moto 9505 continues to work as
well as ever !
Sounds like a desperate sales pitch to me !
FollowupID:
689565
Follow Up By: Charles Jenkinson - Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 16:49
Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 16:49
Thought it might be...
Anyone perhaps using the 9555 on a post paid NextG SIM?
FollowupID:
689566
Follow Up By: George_M - Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 17:33
Thursday, Jun 03, 2010 at 17:33
My Motorola 9505A has worked flawlessly for the past three years - have used Telstra Next G and Telstra GSM sims.
Sounds like a desperate sales pitch to me too.
FollowupID:
689575