Sat Phone #3

I use my Telit (globalstar) while in my van as long as I'm near a window it works fine. As someone else mention in the forums Iridium has been, gone and been again while Globalstar is still here. Globalstar was the easy choice when I wanted a portable sat phone as iridium had gone at that time. Will they go again in the future?? Wait and see maybee.

goldfinder
Iridium No 1 went broke as they could not get enough subscribers to pay for a system that cost 8 Billion (That is BILLION) US Dollars to build.
The original cost to base level subscribers was I believe about $12.00 US dollars per minute and at these rates it was to expensive to most users.

The Iridium company went into receivership and was going to be closed down until a consortium of international businessmen including an Australian who comes from Perth purchased the system from the receiver for a total of $25 Million (That is MILLION) US dollars.

They then wrote a contract with the US Defence Department who have I believe have 20,000 phone handsets in various uses for a minimum monthly spend of $3.5 Million US Dollars.

The US Military actually used the Iridium system extensivley during the recent Iraq war as it was easier to use phones then have various soldiers carry larger bulkier digital radio's.
It was also more reliable and signal strength was always avaliable as opposed to having to locate sat signals with their normal radio's.
It's also digital and is very difficult to eavsdrop.

The Iridium system is as safe and reliable to use as any GSM land based network.
There is no question as to why the system went off the air a few years ago and it has nothing to do with reliability.

Regards
John
These phones were used to call in air strikes amonst other use's

Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club

I have re-read my question & your answer .... will get back to you when I've lost a few million more brain cells!

Graeme, do you already have the phone or are you in the market??

If you already have the phone, then please disregard my post. If you are in the market then take it as a warning about the major, and well documented, disadvantage of the Globalstar system.

I did not mean to cause offence, i thought that I was offering sage advice.

Cheers

Yes Dave

I bought the phone on eBay; figured at that price it was a buy (PROVIDED it worked when my CDMA phone doesn't) for emergency purposes - I will only tell my family my number.

Sorry for being terse ... long day & too much to drink -

Goldfinder
How about telling us where all the gold is to be found these days so that I can become a drop out chasing that yellow metal.

Sean

Sean I've walked a lot of K's looking for gold. I always find gold on my trips but this ranges from 0.1g upwards. The biggest bit to date was 14g but I've been with others who were luckier than myself. The biggest nugget I've seen dug up was approx 15oz found at Marry River NT. I enjoy using a metal detector and travelling so finding gold is just a bonus. Don't think I'll ever get rich form it though. As they say I think I have gold fever because every time I see the right colour it's like I've found my first nugget all over again.

Sean,
I am interested to learn why that might be. It seems to conflict with my experience which has been 100% reliability over a couple of two week periods. Ok you may have more experience but I would be surprised if extrapolating from my limited experience yielded something completely different. Couldit be a bit like the Nissan/Toyota thing?Bob

Bob, It's not a nissan/toyota thing.
Nissan and Toyota each have 4 wheels and a motor in addition to many other similarities.

Globalstar/Iridium are both phones that use satelites, but that is where the similarities end.

Try to find a sat phone hire mob who didn't sell off the Globalstars as soon as Iridium came back. Like I said earlier, I've tried all of the types and Globalstar is in a league all on its own, B grade.

Hi Peter

Does it work in your car while you are driving along? Do you have any 'aids' for it - an external aerial or anything other than what the phone came with?

I need it to work for me as an emergency phone ... when CDMA & GSM stuff is 'out of range' & I need urgent help.

What can I buy to augment the R290's performance?

thanks