<span class="highlight">satellite</span> <span class="highlight">phone</span>

Woops the spellchecker changed it "Satellite Phones"

Motherhen,
You must have missed the discussion here a few weeks back as the Immarsat phones do not allow emergency access.
MM

motherhen
with my iridium using USA pre paid in southern states of Australia all ways (5 times) went thru on 000 & twice in northern Australia did not go thru at all & had to dial international & correct number & now with Pivotel no problems other than the call centre but I now tell them straight away that its a call from a sat phone & the state I,m calling from
why is it that when you had no communication's you were never asked Or came across people that needed life saving help ASAP & since I purchased my sat phone it seems were a magnet for it. had to ring 3 times in 3 trips to Bendeathra all strangers, 1 slipped on rocks walking to the caves & smashed head in (real bad) & a drowning got him going but water on lungs & head injury (playing on Tarzan rope) & as post a few weeks ago new car bogged in creek but no one around & the keys left in it

MH, the network is overseas. The various providers are all O/S based as well. The outgoing call rates from the phone are reasonable at 70c per minute but don’t try calling it from any form of phone in Australia (including other Inmarsats) as the rates are astronomical. Cheaper for the phone user to contact you. You can send a free SMS to the phone through the Inmarsat website but even these have a habit of disappearing into the ether.

I’ve been trying to keep in contact with EO members JayDub, Equinox and Phil B who are currently in the wilds of the Great Sandy Desert and I’m pretty sure that very few of the messages I’m sending are arriving at their intended destination.

I recently bought a new Motorola 9555 through Pivotel. I’m on the $35 plan and the phone performed well on the trip over the last two weeks. There were occasional dropouts but that could have been from the user end as Queen Vik was calling from her mobile. We’re just waiting for the Optus home phone bill to see if the calls made from the landline fitted into our Optus “bundled” plan.

Having been bitten by the Globalstar fiasco, I’m just a little wary of the Inmarsat phone at present. Jaydub will be able to give us a more considered evaluation on his return. He is running his Motorola 950 side by side with the new unit.

Cheers Mick

Thanks Muffin Man, Vince and Mick

As most of us have sat phones principally for emergencies, travellers need to know just what to dial in an emergency as the mind won't think clearly and a local number may be impossible to find anyway with no computer or any other phone listings available. Hard enough to remember the PIN to turn on the phone when under pressure!

I had been told about the high cost of calls to Immarsat, and the free SMS. It seems the Iridium network is still the best option.

Vince, you must be someone's guardian angel to come across such circumstances.

Mh

THANKS everyone for taking the time to share your knowledge with us really appreciate it.

David

GOD Bless