Globalstar satphones

have not had any problems

Hey doc,
i have had a Telit sat phone for over 2 years and have had no trouble. It has paid for itself twice now in emergencies. The reason I went for the Telit was that it was the only one you could get a car kit for which I have. That may have changed now.

have used IRIDIUM/TELSTRA and now Globalstar - Globalstar is ok and gives good coverage out to a long way in the water to the west where the coverage is needed. The performance of all the satellite systems is much the same just check on the amount of data you can transmit/receive (if you want that capability). I am not sure of the type of 'plan' you could get as a private user but if you can somehow get into a business deal then the cost is ok. overall the satphones are good and when I head away I take one and if nothing else it gives peace of mind - to those at home which is of equal importance. rgds

Hi doc

I'm an EX-globalstar Erikson satellite phone user.

I bought a satellite phone for use where my CDMA or GSM phone didn't work ... unfortunately, neither did the sat. phone.

My opinion is that the Globalstar service cannot be relied upon. The reliable service is Iridium.

Just my experience & opinion!

Doc I think you answered your own question.

"I did own a Telit Satphone linked to the Globalstar network but found its performance inferior to phones linked to the Iridium network"

Recently we had a thread running on Iridium but you may have missed it.

I recently purchased a secondhand Iridium Motorola 9500.

I enabled my GSM (digital) SIM card that I use everyday in my Nokia for international roaming (free) and put it into the snap out carrier to make it back into a full size SIM card.

With that in the Motorola I can make and receive calls for $3 a minute (they charge to receive when you do it this way) without the ongoing cost of an Iridium account.

Given that I only plan on making maybe $40 worth of calls a year, and when I'm in the bush it'll be turned off so that solves the calls rxed costs, I'll save heaps on having to have a $360 a year Iridium account.

Maybe if you only plan on using it for emerg use spend the extra on the Iridium phone and save the cost of the phone over the first two years you own it by not needing an account.

BTW This works because Telstra's Iridium system appears to work off the same infrastructure as their international roaming GSM system. The Iridium plan brochure just says something like "Calls made from a phone fitted with a GSM SIM with an 04xx prefix will be charged at a higher rate."

Works for me.

Dave

I hired one a few times and owned one for a while and was completely happy with its performance. I never had difficulty connecting or staying connected. I wonder about those people who disparage Globalstar's performance, given my experience right across the country (but not at sea). I would have no hesitation in committing to Globalstar again. I had an issue with transfer of connection (when I sold the phone) but that was resolved satisfactorily.

Thanks to you all for the responses...much appreciated. When we were on the CSR two years ago I was trying to do live crosses to a Perth radio station and the Globalstar phone was so bad despite in the in car kit and external antenna I was forced to use a colleagues hand held Iridium phone. The latter always worked without dropping out while the Globalstar only acquired a signal about half the time and then would just drop the signal without warning. Seems that despite the change of ownership things have not really improved.

Regards

Doc