Thuraya Satsleeve

Bruce, a fairly common thread of late. Have a look here;Thuraya and you'll probably find what you're looking for.

Cheers,

Mick

Hi Bruce,
As Mick has mentioned this is a fairly common 'ask/question' on this forum.
Follow Mick's leads.
I have a Thuraya Sat Sleeve myself, it works for me $15 month (Pivotel) & $1 per minute to use.
Draw a line from the NSW/Vic border across to Perth....further south of that line you go quality & reliability drops off.....anywhere north of that line NO dramas as long as you can 'see' the NW sky
Hope this helps

hi Bruce
pat callinan has one that he sprukes about on his 4wd show
its a different brand but he swears by it cheers

Personally I would also look at the Hot Spot, same price etc.

The difference is that you can leave it in the vehicle with the car kit and wifi to your smart phone. Its the same connection you do with a sleeve. It works well for around 30 mtrs of the base.

The problem with with Sat phones is ensuring reception. Parking the car with the car kit (external antenna) simplifies using the phone.
Driving you can use bluetooth to speak.

Like the sleeve, if the smart phone has a flat battery you can make an SOS call from the base or answer incoming calls.

I'm a bit wary of apps that do any sort of telephony over wifi connections on smartphones. In theory, great, but in practice the applications tend to be buggy with freezes and lost connections pretty common. I tried the Optus one at home because we had no Optus signal. They said install our app and your calls will come through via the internet into the app on your phone when you phone is not in service.....well it worked sometimes when the app hadn't crashed plus the call quality was questionable even though our internet is good. The satellite hotspot or sleeve would be relying on a similar app to do the talking on your smart phone. I'd want to see a lot of positive reviews before I'd commit.

thanks to the answerers (?) plenty of thought for my brain....
1) Mick O - certainly a good read and probably gave me a few answers that I hadn't even questioned. Read it and its ensuing threads a few times and will probably read them again.
2) Tony H - I liked your line drawing plans, we're in Adelaide so most of it is looking good. South of the line is pretty good normal big T(elstra) as thier coverage is almost with peer... (I said almost, Oodnadatta, William Creek in sa are with Optus, any body who has been there will know of trevors' thoughts )
3) Tony V - like the idea of leaving the "hot spot" thingy in the car with an external antenna and that is the way I've gone.
4) Michael H9 - certainly threw in a good point or two with the WiFi and apps discussion but I've gone with the hotspot sleeve.
the idea of cheapish rates, not another gadget in the car, and Australian availability of phone numbers was the final kicker.
thanks again - b1b