Satellite Phone Iridium 9505A

A Motorola 9500/9505 works ONLY as a satellite phone. You can put different satellite service SIM cards in it.

Telstra has a billling arrangement with Iridium so that if you put a SIM card with International Roaming in it, your satellite calls appear on your phone bill - about $3 a minute for outgoing and for INCOMING calls. There is no additional monthly cost. SMS calls are much cheaper.

They dont work on CDMA and only connect via satellite and are charged at that rate so be prepared for a big hit in the wallet when the bill arrives as the calls are charged at iridium rates.

Only some other makes like Ericsson work on 3G and satellite or so I have been told when I was researching getting one.


There is one on the Trader here for under a $1000 and would be a good buy

Yep!! Mobile phone Sim card enabled for international roaming will cost you about $4- a minute last time I looked and if someone rings your mobile number when the Sim card is in the sat phone they will pay sat rates.

John As far as I have been able to find out you are exactly correct
As I said only ericssons on I think its globalstar revert from one system to the other.
Motorola 9500 series are SATELITTE ONLY no matter how you use them and get charged as you say.

Also your sim card must be enabled with INTERNATIONAL ROAMING to make it work.

Telstra deny this works but finally got them to admit "Well it might" but we wont be responsible if it doesnt.

Wouldnt give a straight Yes or No to the question when quite obviously it does work.

Quote: "Yep!! Mobile phone Sim card enabled for international roaming will cost you about $4- a minute last time I looked and if someone rings your mobile number when the Sim card is in the sat phone they will pay sat rates. "

Not quite right.

It's about $3 a minute ($2.97 rings a bell) and the person with their GSM Int Roaming SIM card pays the satphone rate regardless of whether they are calling or receiving calls. The person ringing them pays the cost of a call to a normal mobile.

It's no surprise that it works, I was one of the first ones on here to promote this several years ago.

I worked it out as the fine print on the Iridium Phone info sheet from Telstra said something like "Calls made from a GSM SIM with an 04 prefix will incurr a higher call charge."

Dave

Telstra has a billling arrangement with Iridium so that if you put a SIM card with International Roaming in it, your satellite calls appear on your phone bill - about $3 a minute for outgoing and for INCOMING calls. There is no additional monthly cost. SMS calls are much cheaper.

The caller to the satphone cannot be charged Satellite rates, because they are calling a Mobile phone number and don't know if you have the SIM in a Mobile or a Satphone. That's why the Satphone is charged for incoming calls also.

80seriescruiser,
From memory Telstra mobile users can call Telstra Sat phones for free during their "my hour". I think,,,,, worth following up. If correct you could give the kids a call at an agreed time, 3 Rings than hang up and wait for their "my hour" call.

Makes having the sat phone more worth while, another reason for Telstra to have all your children on Telstra mobiles.

Peter

If this is correct it will only apply to Telstra Iridium phones on a Satellite account.

In the case of the suggested international roaming SIM here, the incoming call cost is incurred by the receiving phone card acct holder at the same rate as outgoing calls.

The call to the mobile number in question by the my hour phone will still be free.

Another thing worth mentioning in the case of the Int Roam GSM card method of accessing Iridium, is that if you do this and make a call originating in another country you will pay a huge penalty in call costs depending on whose ground station it uses.

Call costs for overseas used could easily exceed $20 a minute. (Similar to ringing a Satphone from an AAPT or Primus Telecom land line within Aus.)

Dave

I am on a plan on my mobile so can these calls come of that plan when I put the mobile phone card in my sat phone.

If this is the cast can I cancel my sat phone plan and just use the plan on my mobile phone.

All the best
Eric

The answer is NO All calls made on a Sat phone using a mobile sim card are charged at SAT PHONE RATES.

The Telstra Satphones DO NOT SWITCH between 3G and SAT they are SAT only

You could use the sim in the satphone but people would have to pay the connection fee to the sat link to talk to you.

It the same as if you are on a Cap plan with Telstra If u make a premium type call or an international call or text it is an extra charge at full rates.

All the sim card does is identify you as a valid Telstra customer and allow you to use the service at the applicable rate.

If you take your roamed sim card overseas you may also be surprised at the cost per minute It most certainly wont be 80 Cents or so.

Graham,

People calling you only pay the call rate applicable to calling your mobile. Same as any interantionally roamed call you pay the cost of the call into the satellite system at the same rate as you pay to make the call yourself.

So if the wife is calling you it is cheaper to make the call from the satphone rather than have both call charges (one on the home phone/wife's mobile and the other on the card in the satphone.)

I have a $10 account on my business plan that gives me a separate GSM card which I only use for my satphone. It's set for int roaming.

If I want to I can leave it on safely knowing I won't get many calls as it's not my normal number. If I don't leave it on and I'm needed to call home (or anyone else) they send me an SMS and I call them back after I've turned the phone on and checked my messages.

Even with a few phone calls a year it still only costs me about $150-170 a year to have a dedicated number for my satphone this way.

Dave

Fair enuf but most people on this thread are talking about using their normal mobile sim card in a sat phone NOT a dedicated one as you have.
So if they leave it on and someone rings it will go thru and wont they be paying sat rates to answer it.
The call charges were a guess in my case as I had the rate page from Telstra but deleted it as I wont be using it.
More to emphasise the difference in cost than anything. Its still an expensive way to make calls no matter how you look at it.
I chose to buy an HF radio for emergencies only. Yes it cost me but I intend to sell it after my big trip and hopefully I wont have to use it at all.

Graham,

I was merely highlighting a way to solve the problem of incoming calls. I get heaps of them if I leave my phone on. Work ring me every time our truck transports a patient on my day off to ask me to come back to work. Leaving the phone on isn't an option and this was the way I solved it.

Using their own card and just leaving the phone turned off unless they want to use it - which is all most people are looking for to achieve emergency communications - this international roaming method is by far and away the cheapest option for emergency communications if combined with a second hand phone.

Personally I take emergency comms very seriously. It comes as a result of seeing what happens when people don't for a living.

I travel with a Codan NGT and a Satphone. I subscribe to VKS737 & Radtel, and have the Iridium phone using the roaming method as described. If I had to make a choice between one or the other I'd choose the HF every time.

But a secondhand Iridium phone, which you really don't have to teach the wife to use like a HF, and either your own or a new $10 a month TELSTRA SIM card set to roaming is an insurance package that's hard to beat.

And you can always leave it off, tell the family (or work) to send an SMS if the sky falls in, and check the messages once a day.

If you get a 9505 instead of a 9500 you can even sms them a location every few days.

It'll never be as good as the support of VKS737 & their operators but it's far, far better than nothing at all.

Dave

Im confused. I follow up 3 u say u can leave the phone on cos u wont get many calls but in 5 you say u get heaps of them,?????? or were u meaning on your normal number
Never mind we are basically saying the same thing in a different way. I also have a NGT and an Epirb if needed. Wife wont allow the sat phone as I said I would get one or the other and went for the NGT.
Still hoping i never have to use either in anger. LOL

Sorry Graham,

Yeah, heaps of calls on my normal number, so got the $10 plan to have a number that I don't give anyone that I can use in the satphone.

That way if something happens while I'm away and I need to be contactable I can leave it on and wait for a call or SMS.

Normally I leave it off though.

If I'd had to make the same choice as you I'd have chosen the NGT as well. I won't get an EPIRB until I get a bigger boat and the price on the UHF ones comes down.

I don't ask my wife what I can buy. It's much easier that way. :o)

Dave