Satphone GSM SIM problem/solution

Submitted: Saturday, Jul 21, 2007 at 20:32

ThreadID: 47956 Views:3646 Replies:2 FollowUps:3

This Thread has been Archived

Handheld Satellite Phone Solutions for Travellers

The aim of this article is to provide a simple overview of the current satphone environment in Australia - assisting recreational, outback travellers make informed decisions when considering the

Member - Patrol Geoff (QLD)

You've gotta love it.

I'm one of the people who tried to do a satphone as cheap as possible for "the Trip". So I bought a second hand Motorola Iridium 9500 with a Telstra GSM SIM card with international roaming enabled ($10/month plan). The Telstra SIM card is only for the satphone. I have a different SIM card (prepaid) for my regular mobile usage.

I tested it out. All worked perfectly. Could send and receive calls no problems (albeit at about $3.00/minute).

That was six months ago. "The Trip" rolls around. The mad flurry of getting everything organised continues right upto Zero hour. I go charge up my Satphone batteries the day before departure.

11:00pm, 7.5 hours before departure with the batteries charged I turn it on to make sure the batteries are ok. "CHECK SIM". What!

I pull the Telstra SIM card in and out but cannot get the phone to recognise it. I tried the original Iridium SIM and that was recognised (but couldn't make calls since I don't have an account with them) - but it showed that the fault was with the SIM rather than the phone.

In the end we did the trip without a working SIM card. It didn't worry us too much since we had the HF (which worked a treat) and could still make 000/112 emergency calls on the satphone without a SIM card. We never planned to really make any normal phonecalls, but it was annoying not having it working when I thought it should.

Anyway I did a bit of playing today. The Satphone still said CHECK SIM, so I put the Telstra SIM in my regular mobile phone. It asked for the PIN (which it wasn't doing on the Satphone) and then asked for a "Security Code:". I don't know what the latter is, nor did any of the numbers I entered work (perhaps my phone is locked or some such, although it is a really old phone). Anyway, when I put the SIM back in the satphone, it registered with Iridium and could make calls as if nothing had happened.

So my theory is that a Telstra GSM SIM card must periodically register on the Telstra network, or else it "locks" up.

I don't know if anybody can confirm that, but figured I'd post my experience so that if anybody else has this problem this post may give them a possible solution.

Not that anybody else would leave testing their satphone until night before departure on "the Trip", I'm sure :-)

-geoff

Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator Share

Reply By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Saturday, Jul 21, 2007 at 22:13

Saturday, Jul 21, 2007 at 22:13

all pretty obscure and hard to test...

AnswerID: 253761

Follow Up By: Member - Patrol Geoff (QLD) - Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 11:49

Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 11:49

Yeah. I'm going to try to test it all a little more periodically. Then I'll see if my "fix" works properly or if I was just lucky.

-geoff

FollowupID: 514883

Reply By: Big Woody - Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 07:30

Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 07:30

Hi Geoff,

I think you will find that all along it has been a Telstra issue. All the mobile phones in our family and business are through Telstra (some GSM and some CDMA) and over a period of about 6 weeks, several of the phones had SIM card issues where the phone could not recognise the card. The phone could not make calls but sometimes it could receive them. Then we would put old SIM cards into the phone and they would work OK for a while and then stop.
The problems for most phones seemed to last about a week or so and then they would work again as normal.
Maybe something to do with the roll out of NextG or something but dozens of people I know commented on similar issues.
A week after they were all working properly again I noticed something in our local paper talking about the problems with Telstra SIM cards.

BTW I also have a Motorola 9505a and use the same set up as you with a GSM SIM card with internaional roaming enabled. I use it regularly as I have a farm which is quite remote and I am up there every fortnight or so on my own. As you said the calls are about $3 per minute but what price can be put on safety. On my last trip up there I was quickly reminded of why I carry the satellite phone when I found myself about 15ft from the largest and fattest coastal taipan I have ever seen travelling across my path. I estimate it to be at least 7.5ft long but the bit that shocked me was his body was fatter than my forearm. I see a few snakes now and then but this one really put the shivers up me. With a snake like that I may not survive but at least carrying the satellite phone and GPS for accurate co-ordinates my chances of the chopper arriving in time are significantly increased.

Regards,
Brett

AnswerID: 253786

Follow Up By: Member - Patrol Geoff (QLD) - Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 11:59

Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 11:59

G'day Brett.

I thought about trying to talk to a Telstra person about it, but since they tried to sell me a NextG phone when I was talking about going across the Simpson ("But NextG has _great_ coverage in the bush. I think you'll find that it is all you need." - Salesperson). They also couldn't even tell me how to find out the call costs from Iridium international roaming. The best they could do was to try it and see what the bill was. So I figured that my chances of trying to get them to understand what I was doing and have them fix my problem was limited. I'm glad that it has come good.

I don't use mine regularly enough (I wish I was doing more trips!) But I'll try use it enough to see if it does it again.

That was one _big_ snake.

-geoff

FollowupID: 514885

Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 12:36

Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 12:36

Ring Telstra Sat Services direct. Last number I had was 1800 632 995
The Sat stuff is to specialised for the local Telstra dealer to know anything about.
I have found Sat Services people to be very good.