Satellite Phones, Deal or No Deal!!!

Submitted: Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 20:07
ThreadID: 12118 Views:2282 Replies:5 FollowUps:8
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G'day , To all my fellow EricssonR290 Satellite Phone buyers, this thread was meant to tell you of the fantastic deals I tried to arrange for us all..........but either I misunderstood or we(communications officer- Anna,Australian Satellite Services) had a communication breakdown.
I rang her today to get the low-down on the new deals..... well now she tells me the new deals are due on the 1st of May and are only applicable if you buy a new phone. She did suggest that there was something else happening in the satellite field so I rang Globalstar and spoke to another woman who was sure that from 1st of May there would be cheaper calls ie same connection fee=$200, $33per month but the call prices are to come down. I don't know if we can believe this, we can only hope.
MightyQ
ps please don't shoot the messenger
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Reply By: Eric from Cape York Connections - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 20:47

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 20:47
Mighty I am still waiting to connect my phone.
Have you acctually got yours connected and if so hows it work.
I am still under the beleif the connection for the first time is only $30 as told to me by a dealer.

Thanks for all your investergations Im not getting mine connected till about mid may.

Many thanks
Eric
AnswerID: 54603

Follow Up By: Slammin - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 22:42

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 22:42
Hi Eric, even tho your phones not hooked up yet can you still make emergency calls. Our globalstar at work can do so without a simcard. Is the Ericson the same?
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Follow Up By: Rosco - Bris. - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:16

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:16
Eric

Good news ..... the phone works bloody well ... good as normal GSM.

Bad news ..... forget about $30 connection .. expect about $200. Monthly access fee and call rates more or less as stated above.

Cheers
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Follow Up By: Rosco - Bris. - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:18

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:18
P.S. I have the exact figures but not readily to hand. Can elaburate if required. Beer time now so forgive spelling ......... :-\
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Follow Up By: Graeme - Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 23:25

Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 23:25
Hey Slammin

Are you saying " ... even tho your phones not hooked up yet can you still make emergency calls"?

Does this mean ... for emergency purposes, I don't need to connect the phone at all ....? Do emergency services work on satellite or only gsn?
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FollowupID: 316463

Follow Up By: Slammin - Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 23:41

Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 23:41
Thats about right Graeme, we had some people out with the Globalstar in car and ran out of fuel or something stupid like that @2yrs ago with guess what - no simcard either but the phone gave the option of Emergency Call, which they used and 000 or whatever gave us a call and passed on their details etc etc. 000 were quite happy and willing to help as they were stuck in a remote area.

Thats why I was wondering about the Ericson?

Anybody got one and want to take the simcard out and see what happens when you try for a connection?
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Follow Up By: Eric from Cape York Connections - Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 07:01

Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 07:01
Rosco you have the ericsson 920 also. If so thats good to hear that it works so well.
The dealer im going through swears that its only 30 first time connection.
I have asked him several times now.

Many thanks
Eric
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FollowupID: 316472

Follow Up By: Rosco - Bris. - Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 12:19

Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 12:19
Eric

Check out Peter's link below ... all bad news I'm afraid. I know cause we've just been through a bun fight with Globalstar re the connection bit.

Seems they've not brought all their dealers up to date in an adequate manner.

We had to take the matter up with one of their head honchos to get any satisfaction as the wombats at their call centre seem to be mostly brain dead.
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Follow Up By: myfourby - Monday, Apr 19, 2004 at 13:25

Monday, Apr 19, 2004 at 13:25
Rosco,
Sounds like you and me both!!! - Took me 2 weeks to sort out the connection fee with Globalstar - they changed it from $75 to $200. Nobody told me about that when I connected - so I fought it when they billed me and eventually got a refund.

I also had to speak to one of their heads to get it sorted.

Not sure what the reason for the increase is - I can only speculate that perhaps the Satphone market is not quite as abundant as first thought!

-Myfourby
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Reply By: Peter McGuckian - Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 22:04

Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 22:04
For Globalstar rates and fees - look up their website GLOBALSTAR

Peter
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AnswerID: 54741

Reply By: Graeme - Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 20:37

Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 20:37
Hi

I rethinking my ownership of my unused R290 so if anyone wants to buy it for $500 ex my home in Sydney, drop me a line.
AnswerID: 54866

Reply By: landie - Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 20:44

Sunday, Apr 18, 2004 at 20:44
Hi

I have the R290 and access satellite service via Vodafone. I have GSM connection through Vodafone on a no plan basis. I pay 1 cent per second on GSM. However, through Vodafone I pay $10.00 per month to be connected to Globalstar and I pay a call rate of $2.97 per minute when using Globalstar. I have had this service for at least a couple of years, although I don't think Vodafone promote it these days.

It is worth checking to see if you can still connect to Globalstar this way. I look at it this way, even though the call rate is high at $2.97 per minute, I only use it for essential (no emergencies yet!) calls.

Worth checking and better than paying $200.00 for direct Globalstar connection.

Landie
AnswerID: 54868

Reply By: Graeme - Monday, Apr 19, 2004 at 17:39

Monday, Apr 19, 2004 at 17:39
Hi all

For the very latest in Globalstar plan rates, see my post # 12195

Cheers
AnswerID: 54988

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