<span class="highlight">Globalstar</span> again

Iridium is the best of the best but I think that you will find that they are also the most expensive.

I have a 9505A iridium and cannot complain about the phone or the service in any way. I have never been unable to make a call when required. Even when in the middle of a heavy snowfall with less than 5 meters visiblity, in another country.
As stated previously..... You get what you pay for.

Hi Brummie, we had problems with ours when we went away last July so I contacted Glstar and they have suspended our monthly fees until January when they are suppose to have all satellites up and running and the service back to where it use to be which was fantastic, so we are waiting to see what happens in January before we take any other steps because replacing what we have for iridium would be another expense which if Glbstar comes good again would be unnecessary.

I hadn't heard of Glbstar moving over to Iridium but it would not surprise me if they did actually have a name change because of all the bad publicity which they have had since their satellites deteriorated.

Cheers

D

You may as well use a house brick it will give you about the same coverage as Globalstar.
As for telstra you get out every time and never drop a call.
I have even made calls from under a tarp in the pouring rain.

I had the globalstar system every call was like lotto you just didn't have a chance. Some calls could take 10 attempts and you finally get out and it would drop then you start again.

All the best
Eric

Gday Brummie

In the past I have been relatvely happy with the coverage, but it is getting worse, and it seems I have usually been using it during a good time of the day (eavning) when there are a few sats about. Lately, I have tried to use it a bit during the day and it has been bad, so I'm changing my tune a bit now.

I have the qualcomm cdma/sat. it has been good having the cdma option, the calls are cheap and good reception. Its the reason I bought the phone. When the cdma network gets turned off, I will have a very expensive, unreliable phone which is not doing the job I forked out $2200.00 for. These phones are not like the general mobile, that you get alost for free on most plans, they are a long term investment in your lifestyle and safety, and should last most of your life (IMO)

I have sent a letter to G*, and will keep you posted of the outcome. Telstra are replacing CDMA phones for free, G* should be doing the same!

Cheers Andrew

We use the Optus Mobilesat service and have never had a problem, on a $35.00 plan with call costs of $1.20 per minute.

The other good thing is we can plug a cordless phone in and us it in doors or with in a 400mm radius of the vehicle.

Regards Richard

I don't think that there is any such deal but it would be true to say that Globalstar is probably losing many customers to iridium whilst it's network problems continue....the problem is that most Globalstar customers are using Telit or Qualcomm hardware that can't be used with iridium so it means a new phone at about $2000 less subsidy if you can get it.

I notice that Globalstar has added feature on their website so you can work out the times when you will/won't get sat coverage for you're position. A quick look for say Karratha in WA shows a myriad of 'dead spots' ranging from a couple of minutes to 1 hour throughout a 24 hour period. That doesnt give you much confidence in the case of an emergency.

I believe Globalstar still has another 4 1st Gen satellites to launch in the next few months which should vastly inprove the coverage. I think the whole constellation is being upgraded to 2nd gen satellites in 2009/2010.

I've never had a problem with Iridium coverage however the voice quality is not as clear as globalstar (when it's working that is!).

I note the real problem with Globalstar hasn't been mentioned here.
We all hate paying for something that we can't use, but there's more.
The real problem is that they advertise their service as being suitable for emergency communications all over Oz.
It isn't, and hasn't been for some time.
This is false and misleading advertising.
What about Duty of Care or something ?

Bitten by a snake ? Having a heart attack ?

Try a carrier pidgeon, you'll have more luck.

Maybe all of you who live in hope that Global$hit will come good should have a read of this post by Michelle from EO.
Global$hit Issues

I am having a discussion (being polite) that I should not have to pay for a satelite phone connection when, by their own admission does not work in the south west WA. I have been unable to to disconnect as I have not filled out the correct form which they will either fax to me or email for me to print off. bit hard to do in a van and no printer. They refuse to post a copy of the form.
They were generous enough to give me a $50 credit to cover the 2 years at $90 per month that I have not had coverage. Globalstar also complained that I would not answer my phone or respond to messages. I explained that could be something to do with the fact I don't get coverage. I was informed that there was good coverage in central Australia so there was no excuse in not responding to messages.
I think an 8,000klm round trip to get a message from Globalstar would be seen as reasonable by most people.
There is good news, full coverage should be available by 2011 and they will reduce my contract price to $35 per month until that time.
I actually got good coverge for the first 6 months (in 2005) but now I have got used to not having communications.

Neil

Brummie Pete,

whereabouts in B'ham are you from. My wife's long lost rellies of Aussie origin but born over there came out a year or so ago.

Look at this link you'll find out why they came out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peFQWuk4nuo&feature=related

The advantage of having an Iridium Handset is that you can get by with ZERO monthly fees, if you have a Telstra Simcard with International Roaming enabled.

Perfect if you use the phone mainly for emergencies.

I just called Golbalstar and checked on the latest.
After trying to "sell" me on the new constellation coming in a coup of years (too late for me!) and the interim patches (not good enough for me) I was told that in February they will be mailing out an offer to existing subscribers for a handset buy back subsidy and change to Iridium. Keep Globalstar number, and call plan and have full Iridium service. No details of the buy back $ yet though. I will wait and see - what's another couple of months - having the business call me on normal priced mobile calls to a good service is ideal for me!! (I can't see that Iridium offers that now)

IAN