Iridium 9505A Satellite phone - sim card

Robyn,
I am not 100% sure but i don`t think you can use a prepaid sim, a post pay contract sim yes, it must be enabled for international roaming (free).

I just use the standard sim from my old Samsung C5220 and it costs nothing extra to use it in the sat phone other than my normal mobile $25 / month plan and about $4.00 / min per call.

Scrubby

..Just get $10/month post pay casual plan telstra SIM. Cancel when ever you like. $87 for 30 days is way over the top (unless it included phone hire as well..maybe).

Cheers
Greg

Hi Greg
I was actually meaning a pre paid... specifically...sat phone sim and contract sat phone sims. Different to regular phone network sims I believe.
I didn't know you could use your conventional cellular sim in your satellite phone. I always thought they were entirely different configurations for satellite and cellular connectivity.
Cheers
Robyn

Hi

Well documented in previous threads - Telstra post paid sims (from a "normal" mobile phone) will work in Iridium Sat phones so if you have both in your possession you are (possibly) laughing. Getting a second hand Iridium off eBay (for example) and a telstra $10/month casual plan is another option. Each to their own - may not be best option for everyone.

Cheers
Greg

To The Young Nomads.

What you hired was a prepaid SATELLITE sim card from TR Telecom

What others are talking about is using your normal cellular Telstra account sim in the satfone.

This has been a subject on here for the 8 years I have been around and still comes up about once a month. As Telstra also run satfones the sim is merely a way of billing you for the call.

It does work, has always worked on an Iridium phone like a Motorola 9 series phone. You can buy one for under $400 and have it always. If you only need it for emergencies you only pay for the calls you need to make.

When out of cell coverage you just swap the sims over and turn it on Get a lock and away you go. However if friends ring you when you are using it YOU pay for the inward call at approx $4 a minute, same as the call out cost

I got a second hand sat phone from eBay, got a blank (?) sim for nothing from Telstra , and ' hired' a card from a sat hire company for a couple of weeks. Cost roughly 50 bucks and 4 bucks a minute. The sat phone company walked me through the whole thing. Wasn't as hard as I've explained it ! If you use it a lot then not the best method.

Can I ask why you needed two sims. A "free" one from Telstra would surely be a prepaid which wouldnt work.

What brand of phone did you buy.

A bit off topic I know, but if someone has got hold of a $10 month post paid casual plan from Telstra in the last 2 months please tell me where.
This seems not to have been available for quite a while now and currently the cheapest post paid casual plan sim is $35 per month.

Cheers
Peter

You may find there are two types of Telstra shops Ones that are company shops and ones that are Agency type or resellers.

Only the "Real" ones would possibly know about the $10 plan. The others and even some of the real ones deny you can use a Telstra sim in a Satfone so good luck unless someone on here knows where to get one.If like us you have two cell phones on Telstra plans Just use one of those sims no ongoing cost apart from calls if any made

Peter, As TomH said most are completely unaware of the $10 post-paid SIM. I even printed out the PDF and showed it to one T-shop but still drew a blank. In the end I got on the phone and got a similar response, but elevated it and the (Aussie) supervisor knew of it and provisioned it for me ("for my spare cellphone" ...). SIM arrived by courier a couple of days later.

There are two key things to remember - ask for the deal by the exact name on their docs - MOBILE ACCELERATE CASUAL PLAN - and DO NOT MENTION IT IS FOR A SATPHONE.

I too have been looking for the legendary Telstra $10 plan which can be used for Iridium satellite connection via roaming. I phoned Telstra twice, even gave them the URL of the Telstra PDF document for MOBILE ACCELERATE CASUAL PLAN MONTH-TO-MONTH $10.

However the sales rep claims it is 'no longer offered to new customers'. Maybe it really is the end of this plan as far as new people signing up to it goes. I will try going into a Telstra reseller to see if any luck.

Perhaps the Pivotel $22 casual Iridium plan is now the best bet for those of us who want a cheap satellite plan for emergencies? Anyone have experience with this Pivotel plan?

Peter

Googling that you get the new plans which came out a few months ago and the cheapest is $25.

http://au.pcmag.com/telstra/29485/news/telstra-bumps-mobile-data-limits

Tom and Galah, that's not entirely correct. If you want to see the ACTUAL plan change document, go to:
this page then under heading "Plans no longer available for new connections" link to mobileoldcons.pdf

Yes, it's a frigging 317-page document. Telstra NEVER do such things by halves. Go down to page 22 and read 3.1. Oh heck, I'll post the clause here:

"Eligibility
3.1 Mobile Accelerate Casual Plans are available to new or existing customer with a 13 digit account number. Mobile Accelerate Plans are not available for new or recontracting customers on and from 12 May 2015 (with the exception of Mobile Accelerate Casual $10 per month)."

The Casual $10 plan is still there and is still available - well, it was a week ago when I spoke to a Telstra CSR who was quite prepared to give it to me, except I already have one.

This plan has never officially been available via T-shops, and is a "back-of-house" deal that Telstra may or may not offer depending on the situation. It is NOT available simply because someone demands it. But now that it has gone more back-of-house than before, you need to talk to the Aussie support people at Telstra - NOT the Filipinos - and there is a trick to getting through to them. I can't post it here as the minute google searches pick up on it, the Aussie back-door will probably close. I will pass it on to those in need if they contact me by email at "my-nick" at westnet dot com dot "ow!" and follow the procedure I provide.

Thats good I didnt dig deep enough LOL

Tom, there are few people who would dig deep enough in Telstra's labyrinthian site to find that document. I engaged in an on-line chat session with some Telstra droid who insisted all the Casual Accelerate plans were history, and gave me the effective date of the changes. That inspired me to dig deeper.

And I found the back-door "PIN and password" in an unrelated search elsewhere. That came in handy as I wanted to move a funky NUMBER from a pre-paid to my $10 SIM. Chat said it couldn't be done. The backroom guy said "yeah, sure - it'll take about ten minutes" - and it did. Those guys are the solvers.

Maybe its the 1800 number I have that gets me to where you get results from

Got it after it took 7 months to get my account straight.