Sat Phone Plans.

My understanding is that a Telstra SIM goes into a Motorola phone and only connects to the Iridium constellation. Your Tellit is bound to Globalstar.

As far as I know you can only use a Telstra Cellular sim in an IRIDIUM phone and usually a Motorola 9500 9505, 9595A or 9555. The latter two can send and receive texts.

If you want to go on a Telstra Satellite plan it may be possible Someone here may have tried.

$20 a month is now the cheapest.

Globalstar would need to have improved dramatically before I would risk my life by using it.

A few years ago it was only good on Fridays when they were odd days of the month (If you get what I mean)

Hi Col agree with what Tom says, we changed from iridium 9500 to a sat sleeve for our iPhone we use Pivotel they are great $15.00 per month casual we used it several times connection straight away. You can disconnect at any time and reconnect when needed you are given a mobile number and costs roughly the same as most mobile phones. (not international ) like most satellite phones. they charge an initial connection fee when you get the sleeve of $25 and you can ring them any time they are based in Southport Queensland.
And best of all simple to use.

AFAIK as I currently have a Telstra $20 plan, these change on 23?November 2015 to a $35 plan with unlimited calls to all Australian hard line and mobile "normal" numbers. IE excluding calls like voting on Xfactor or whatever.
Regards Philip A

The Telit 550 satphone is obsolete and you can no longer get it connected to the Globalstar network in Australia by Pivotel. Your can trade your old Telit in for a refurbished Qualcomm 1600 also called Globalstar GSP 1600. You sign a contract for 6 months at $20/month plus $25 connection fee plus calls and the qualcomm is yours. However no sms facilities on this phone , calls are 99 cent/min ,no incoming call costs and your number is an australian local mobile number meaning is't the cheapest to call. I was connected to GlobalStar from the late 90s to 2011 when i changed to Inmarsats isatphone pro and now only recharged it when i need it as i am able to make phone calls on my HF radio , However you can carry a 12 month expiry recharge voucher or still use the emergency number without credit on the Isatphone.

hI COLANJEN
Why preserver with the sat phone when you can have ma HF radio VHS 237 GIVES YOU TELEPHONE contact for the cost of joining the HF RADIO CLUB there is night and morning skeds it has GPS capability to follow you for your family to see where you are through the HF radio you can telephone for free you can have messages left with the sked operator all in the cost of the club fee

look at www.hfradio to see if this suits you

Thank you everyone who replied and or made comment,

Plenty of good info there and I will certainly look into what has been suggested. I now know why my Sat phone didn't work a few weeks back when I needed it. Good of them to inform me Ha!

Regards from Col.

Hi Colanjen, you can indeed upgrade you Tellit basically for free to a GSP1600 (we can arrange that for you if need be). Coverage will be excellent in areas south of about Broome or Townsville. From there going northwards service availability does reduce - think like 80% availability in the far north.

For full coverage Australia wide the Thuraya network has excellent handsets and great casual plans - $15 per month.

I believe the Tellit retirement, and free upgrade, has been quite well announced and customers with existing plans were notified, but if you were "off plan" at the time may not have been informed.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to give us a call. We've done quite a few upgrades in the last months. Not too sure how long the free upgrade will last as there is limited upgrade stock available

Regards,

Kevin