sat phones -- hire or buy

Hey Rod M

You can qualify for a $1500 grant for a Sat phone, this way the phone is cheaper, but you have to be on a $70 plan for 2 years, you get $70 a month free calls and after 2 years you can put it on a smaller plan.

I'm with Global star and haven't had any problems yet, but people on this forum will tell you different.

So I will let the debates begin.

Cheers Steve.

Hi Rod....I too have laboured over this issue as well....... however I am trying to decide between HF radio and sat phone....as both are eqally good with each having obviuos advantages.........IT seems though HF radio might have the advantage of connecting you with people who are close around where you are who can offer immediate and faster help in a emergency whereas with a sat phone you would totally unaware of their presence...and I might add vise versa...they would be aware of you too, not so with a sat phone....then you might prefer that...but the cost is about the same in the end.....then you could get both, it comes down to money and how much you are willing to spend....regards Phil

I purchased an Ericsson R290 from Ebay a few years ago. The plan is with Globalstar @ $35 per month(includes $10 of calls). For me I like the convenience of taking it away even on short weekend trips. Phone works well, however battery life is rather short.

I looked at Hire and BOY what a big cost for something you may not use, just to give it back. If it was me I would buy, go the satphone subsidy

The Satphone subsidy was to expire by June 2007.

As so many applied for the subsidy the Govt tightened the rules a bit so you will have to Google it to see what the rules are now.

I have a 9500 Motorola bought privately. Telstra Iridium works well for me. I have used the phone without hassle in the deserts and overseas for the past 4 years.

Cheers

UMM no one has so far mentioned the initial cost of the unit? How many year do you have to stay connected to a plan.?
Thanks guys

Opps another thing, can you use it as a normal mobile as well? IE, they were advertising a Sat phone about a year ago that did CDMA as well as SAT. So maybe one now that uses gsm or next G ?.

I hate Tel$tra.

TR Telecom - ask them to match Tel$tra's $1995 for the 9505A kit.
www.trtelecom.com/default.asp
$30/month for minimum of 4 months - then you can suspend for $15/mth or cancel the account.

Adv:
- cheaper than Tel$tra

Dis:
- no Australian mobile number (international number) but there is ways around that...

Once you have a sat phone you will not look back! (Tel$tra digital is useless, cdma/nextg a bit better - but off the east coast highway the satphone comes into it's own)

The only thing I like about telstra is the way they kept ringing up when we dumped them. Made me feel good to think they cared. they certainly didnt care when I was having problems with them. They told me I could have free phone for my cdma but changed their mind when I when in there. They were going to take two weeks to fix the battery too after they sold it to me. Losing cdma hurt and they wont do pre paid on 3G either. Then we had hassle getting them to stop billing us for transferring local calls from house phone to mobile when the exchange when down. Now we save a heap by bundling with Westnet isp.

owen

We have a NEC S2 car mount sat phone...the reason we went for a car mount was the coverage, the ease of using it in the car when traveling, plus we can conect a everyday portable phone to it and use it insude buildings or in the campertrailer (about 300-400m range). Its funny when you use it in the middle of no where using the cordless phone option and people look and ask strange questions.

The Optus plans are about as cheap as you get.

If using a handheld sat phone be very carefull with battery life and using it in the car or in or around buildings, the best handheld would be the Motorola range on Iridium or the Telit dual GSM/sat phone ...the Telit is Nokia's parent company.

If you go for a car kit expect to pay around $2000 (car kit only no phone), you very rarley see them secondhand.

Stay away from the Ericsson R290 and the Qualicomm GSP1600.

Regards Richard

So can you get a duel purpose phone with next g plus sat????

Hi Rod,
I bought a secondhand Motorola Iridium 9500 from that auction site you allude too, works fine for me.

I'm not going to buy into the whole Globalstar / Iridium debate beyond the following suggestion.
If you buy or rent an Iridium you can use a normal GSM SIM card in it for those rare satellite calls. All you need to do is have the SIM card out of your regular run of the mill mobile enabled for International Roaming.

No need to join a dedicated satellite plan at all.

Geoff

I have hired and bought. Hiring is much cheaper. If you are away for two weeks it only costs about $200 plus calls.

The first one I bought was the R290 for $500. Connection was initially $200 then $35 per month.

The second one is a Telstra and as someone said is $70 a month for two years under the Gov assistance plan.

Unless you are in the bush a lot and only get away for a few weeks a year like me then its a no brainer - hire it. Post it back if you are away from the hiring point.

If you love gadgets (like me) you will have your own regardless of the cost.

Which is better? I found the R290 with Globalstar to be excellent. The Motorola with Iridium is a disappointment as it often drops out, and conversations are stilted because of the time delay. More like using a two way radio.

On a recent trip I had the Motorola using Iridium and another traveller had a Globalstar handset. His was much better. The only advantage for me was that other members of the group stopped asking me if they could use my phone.

Perhaps the only advantage of the Iridium was when I was in the Islands north of Papua New Guinea last year - I believe the Globalstar would not have worked.