Satellite Phone

That won't work for long.See this recent discussion.

Not sure if this applies to Satphones, but JB HiFi, are a licensed Telstra agent. When our phone plan came up for renewal recently, we went to both a Telstra Shop, and our local JB HiFi store. JB were able to offer us a much better deal than we could get directly from Telstra. Go figure.

Macca.

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Hmmm, maybe there are Telstra Dealers and Telstra dealers.
Did he offer any suggestions?

On this page Telstra refer to Satellite phone plans but do not reveal them there. They direct you to call 1800 632 995 for plans.

I cling to my Telstra Satellite phone account (plan?). It has been $30/month for yonks. A few months ago Telstra sent me a letter announcing that it was to be raised to $40 and requiring me to complete an "enclosed application" to that effect. I totally ignored it and the monthly invoice has remained at $30.!!!

I may be in a different situation as I have a Telstra Business Account and all our Telstra services are linked within that account. I pay homage to the Great Telstra God and he smiles kindly on me....... for now anyway!

If you can arrange an acceptable postpaid 'Mobile Account' you can put that SIM in your mobile phone and it will perform. However, the call costs are high as it must be in 'roaming' mode. If the phone is only to be used for short calls or true emergencies then call charges are of perhaps lesser importance.
You can even simply transfer your Mobile SIM card to your satellite phone when out of mobile service range but it may not be wise to wait until you are actually in an emergency situation as it is a fiddly process and the SIM card may disappear into the red sand!

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Hi Macca,

Pre-paid SIM's were never an option with Telstra Iridium services. As far as I know they are still not.
Pre-paid SIM's with the Sat Phone Shop are a new one on me. But they seem to have some drawbacks.
1) The general problem of Pre-paid is their period of validity. If you should overshoot the validity period then you are without communication.
2) If you should consume your available credit whilst dealing with an emergency then you are in more trouble.
3) Sat Phone Shop's "3 Month Special" @ $395 could be attractive to seasonal travellers but my Telstra post-pay account costs less at $360 and covers the whole year. And won't run out of steam half-way through an emergency.

If I were a sailor I would not buy a discounted life raft from China and I am not likely to stint on safety communication either.

Allan, the wording and word sequence is critical. To clarify:

Telstra pre-paid SIMs were never an option with Iridium services (and still aren't).

Pre-paid SIMs for Iridium services abound. I have a genuine Iridium one - unused - sitting in front of me right now.

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Err Zippo, I am missing your point. How does that differ in substance from my expression?

Hi Allan,

I have not been on line to the Sat Phone shop for a while, but my last pre paid I bought was for 30 days at $150. Only needed 30 days coverage as the rest of the time we were within mobile coverage. However, I agree $360 per year is pretty good.

Macca.

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Ah, thanks Greg.
Earlier today, when I clicked on the "Access Plans" banner nothing opened. It does for me now so it must have been a temporary glitch. Either that or Telstra were in the process of revising the prices yet again!

Who knows - anything is possible..

Cheers
Greg

Quote from @ Explorer. Also remember you can call 000 from an Iridium Sat phone (and possibly others) with no SIM at all, if all you need is a dedicated emergency option and nothing more..... I can confirm that some earlier Iridium's. Like my old 9505A will not register on the Iridium network with an expired sim or without a sim so you won't be able to call 000 or 112 . The signal strength bars indicate's it see the Sats it but the iridium register emblem will not appear untill you insert a valid sim. The sims I purchased in the past expired 3 months after credit ended. On another note the 2013 sim I have in my Isatphone, last recharged in 2015 can still call emergency . recieve sms emails and calls . 'Just saying'

No worries - common sense would obviously suggest checking/testing ability of your sat phone to operate under the conditions described (i.e no SIM) prior to heading bush - i.e. don't assume anything.

Cheers
Greg

Maurice, that SIM-less 000/112 functionality was a firmware feature, NOT a network characteristic. In fact the addition of 112 required a firmware update on the 9555's way back. (I may even have a record of which version introduced it.)

Whether it was ever available via firmware update on the 9505A I have no idea, as I sold mine way back.

Word of warning, I heard on the grape vine that the new sims that are also 5g capable no longer work in sat phones.