Motorola 9500 works on G3

If the SIMcard is not registered for International Roaming, it will not be accepted on the Iridium Network.

Thanks Mike. I took my wife's sim card which is international roaming out of her (CDMA, Next G, 3g , whatever...pick one :) phone and it registered on the irridium network Ok. She then dialled her number and voila.
So the phone appears to be Ok...whew, now I can order an Irridium pre paid card.

I don't think you can get prepaid to be enabled for International Roaming, though I haven't tried yet.

Mike, I wasn't referring to the Telstra pre paid but to the Irridium ones that are availiable through TR Telecom here, and also a mob in the states.
They upload a certain number of minutes to them, and give you a time limit to use them.

Mate,
I work on the premis that people I speak to are at least as intelligent as me. So, anyone with a Motorola 9500 will know, just as you obviuoulsy do, that it is an Iridium phone.
Anyone who doesn't have a 9500 will probably find it bloody tuff to get hold of one, given that they've been out of date for years.
i was merely answering the question that many 9500 owners have asked. I'm not going to spell check this, but there's no need for yuo to mark my paper.

ah yes but there are 2nd had ones on the market that people maybe looking at so it's better to be accurate.
So is your sim a Next G or a 3G?

Leroy

Well done smudger.
Have you tested the phone away form the towers. According to Telstra the NG sim will work in the phone around mobile towers but they are still blocking signals to the satellites. I would presume you talking about away from the city which explains the confusion about these things, Telstra havent got a clue, so what hope have we got.
Dean

Dean I think he means he can make Satellite calls using his Next G Sim card and respective Next G account.
Sat phones don't work on Mobile phone networks without the GSM adapter which there does not seem to be many in Aus.

"I work on the premis that people I speak to are at least as intelligent as me. So, anyone with a Motorola 9500 will know, just as you obviuoulsy do, that it is an Iridium phone."

- the message above from DEAN makes it clear that your posts will be more helpful if you don't assume that every reader has high level of knowledge on every subject - they come here to learn.

You know, it's amazing that Mike DID comes out of the gates like a maddened bull whenever "sat phone" gets mentioned! There are a few recent posts about sat phones and in each one you p!ss someone off - like you did me some time ago!
Amazing.

Deans reply above showed my statement was correct.

At least I try to help people get the right facts about Satphones - rather than developing hit-lists.

Well , nah nah nah , my sim card which is Telstra 3G works spot on in my Ericsson R290 sat phone ,, not via sat of course but via towers.

Axel wasn't the R290 a duel Global$hit and CDMA capable phone??
As the account arrangements originally set up by Global$hit roamed to Telstra CDMA if it could detect a service??

As I understand from extensive research on both Motorola and Ericsson Phones, the following applies.
Motorola Iridium phones only work on the Iridium network and NEVER work on any mobile network. Even with a sim card of 3G next G or last G
The Ericsson and perhaps the Taits will revert to a network if its in range.
JUst my 2c worth

Axel old son, you said it, my phone works within the towers using NG/3G but not not via sat, would that make that setup useless in the bush.
Dean

Dean , thing is its an old phone but nowhere near useless , we did the signal / phone exercise just last week on Moreton Island , Telstra maps ect claim 3G coverage of the island , know from previous experience that the island has major black spots with both CDMA and 3G , anyhow we were at a known blackspot [blue lagoon] , tried for signal with our Samsung-A501 with Telstra 3G sim card ,,, zip, zero ,nil , no signal at all , put same sim into the old Ericsson R290 sat phone and lo and behold full strength signal ,, and before any one says "oh you must have had global roaming enabled " sorry but no ,, all I know is that the old 1/2 a brick works on 3G in places that the new beaut do everything phones dont even get a signal.

You are quite right Axel

An Ericsson will work on both Globalstar and mobile towers.

However a Motorola Iridium phone wont.

Thats why it needs Global Roaming enabled on the Sim card as it can only work with the satellites and is charged at that rate on your normal mobile account.

It could be you were picking up Globalstar ( IF it was working) LOL.

I found that the old Motorola cell phones worked a hell of a lot better than their newer models and the old Brick was the best of all

If you read Smudger's headline and post, you would believe the phone works 3G. Mike DID is right to get the information corrected.

Read my lips.
I put the NextG card in my 9500 and it registered on the Irridium satelite network and I made a telephone call. It worked!
For fans of 3G, I've made calls on my 9500 from all deserts east of WA, and a heap of other remote areas, using my now redundant 3G SIM card, and it worked ..for over 2 years. locations including the red dentre, top end, the Victorin and NSW Alps, and all points between ..all in locations where regular mobiles of all persuasions did not work.

I've been watching this thread get thick as soup for a week now. Wassamatter with you turkeys?
I said it works!!!!!

Telstra don't want you to use you regular SIM card in your Motorola Iridium phones, they want you to commit to a contract, so if ring and ask them (as I did before buying my 9500) they'll refuse to admit you can acheve non-contarctural access. It's a glitch in their technology that doens't suit their marketing. It's to your advantage. Yes the calls are expensive, but it's a relatively cheap and reliable emergency communications system.
ou don't want to use it, fine. But, don't try and tell me that the phone calls I'm making aren't happening.
No point in harrasing me, coz I'm not watching this thread anymore.

"It's a glitch in their technology that doens't suit their marketing. "

- having spent many years working on Telstra billing processes, I can assure you that the only reason the Iridium network recognises Telstra SIM cards that have been authorised for International Roaming, is because Telstra has agreed to pay Iridium for any Satphone calls made using these SIMcards.

Before the phone registers to the Iridium network, it will check with the Telstra Billing System to make sure the SIM is still current.

You don't say anything like that with your headline Smudger, it is totally different to what you are adding.

Smudger didn't I say that in my reply above along with a few others???

The only thing new is that you have confirmed that a Next G Sim card will work in a Sat phone were as this has been well known and done for years by many with GSM Sim cards.
The effect is that your Sat calls will be charged at a higher rate and appear as such on your Next G account.

I think some have misinterpreted the thread as it was not clear from the beginning and think that you were suggesting that the Iridium Sat phone itself would actually use or transmit / receive on the mobile phone network (Next G and or GSM) on a local basis.
Mike DID rightly points out in the first reply that this cannot happen.