Help - Iridium Satphone problem
Submitted: Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:30
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George_M
I've just bought a Motorola 9505A satphone off ebay. When it is switched on it goes through a start up sequence, and gets stuck at the "Registering" step. It then goes to a message which says "
Invalid Account".
I've tried a Next G as
well as a GSM sim, both with global roaming activated. Any suggestions as to what the problem could be?
George_M
Reply By: John S (NSW) - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:46
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:46
George_M,
Stupid question, but have you got the phone connected to a valid account for both Sat & GSM ?
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Reply By: Axel [ the real one ] - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:51
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:51
N0 workee cause no payee for sat connectee ,,
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Reply By: Willem - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:53
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 17:53
Oh dear, George...and you are too
young to have a Senior Moment.....lol
You need to establish an account with Telstra.
Phone this secret number 1800 632 995
Cheers
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Follow Up By: George_M - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:24
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:24
I wish, Willem; I wish:-)
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Reply By: Footloose - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:14
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:14
It definately sounds like an account problem. It should register if its a valid Telstra card on roaming. (no prepaid cards)
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Reply By: George_M - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:23
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:23
Ok - now I need to ask a REALLY stupid question....
A search of the archives on this subject indicates that some
forum members are using Motorolla 9500/9505A satphones with their "normal" mobile GSM or Next G sims. The activation of "global roaming" seems to be a prerequisite for this to work.
I rang Telstra (thanks Willem) who informed me that I will need an exclusively Iridium sim; and that although the sims look the same, my GSM/NextG sim will not allow a Motorola 9505A to connect to the Iridium network.
Any further advice before I go an have a drink and a good lie down?
George_M
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Kev & Darkie - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:44
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:44
Make sure that it is a strong drink LOL
Cheers Kev
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FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:54
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 18:54
That is correct George
Don't worry about the sim card stuff. Just use your Satphone sim. It used to work with the old GSM frequencies but not any more. Use the Satphone as a satphone and use your 3G or NextG for the purposes they were designed for.
It really is that simple.
Costs me $30 per month for access and $2.50 per minute or thereabouts for a call duration. I use the Satphone when I go away into the never never, which is quite often. I have had my 9500 for 4 years now and the previous owner bought it new a couple of years before.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Axel [ the real one ] - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 19:08
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 19:08
For once ,or at least its been so long the memory plays tricks, I have to agree with Willem ,, Just been thru the same [almost ] , bought the sat phone off ebay close to a year ago ,, Erricson 290 , put any sim card in and off u go no worries ,but naturally NO sat ,, , now some will laugh , but Global have changed name to Pivotel and thru them have now mth by mth plan , no sign up fee , $35 per mth with $10 included calls @ .45c per 30sec sat time.
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 19:39
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 19:39
Maybe its locked to a providor in the country it came from Just a thought.
Telstra WILL tell you that as they want you to pay the exorbitant rates they charge.
Others who use sim cards will confirm or deny that they actually do work
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Reply By: trekking_man - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:29
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:29
I have a Motorola 9505A and it works fine with a Telstra GSM SIM and international roaming.
A Next G is unlikely to work with the satphone as it uses a USIM (look the same but different technology).
A GSM should work as long as the SIM is not locked to the Telstra network, is not locked to the handset it was purchased with and is international roaming enabled.
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Follow Up By: WA Joe - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:43
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:43
Have a Motorola sat phone and two days ago I removed the sim card and replaced it with my Next G sim from my mobile and it worked with no problems at all,
Joe
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Follow Up By: trekking_man - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:06
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:06
Hi Joe
That's good news. I've been thinking about changing to Next G and was holding off as I thought I'd have prob's with using the satphone.
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Follow Up By: George_M - Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:09
Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:09
Thanks t_m.
I'm off to do battle with Telstra....
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Reply By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:39
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 20:39
George I don't have the Iridium but the other mobs phone, but I bought mine second hand so I had to get the ownership details changed then organise an account all up cost about $350 over and above the purchase price. As per the above posts if you have a valid account with the sat phone carrier then ok. Otherwise if you already have a valid account attached to the sim card you are trying to use then that will only get you GSM or NextG.
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Follow Up By: SoloGirl - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:47
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:47
Wow Duncan!
That's a lot of money!
I also bought a second-hand phone (Iridium operated) and it cost me $170 odd to get everything sorted including an Iridium sim card.
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Reply By: bob&loz - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:17
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:17
Have a look at this link to see if you did it correctly
http://www.jimshire.aussiewide.com/
Bob
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Follow Up By: Footloose - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:45
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 21:45
Guys, this link is for the 9500, the earlier model of the 9505A. The 9505A has a smaller sim card I believe, and doesn't need the adaptor card.
If you have the SIm inserted incorrectly the phone will tell you so. It will also tell you "
invalid account" if it IS an
invalid account, eg. the Sim card has expired.
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Reply By: Big Woody - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:10
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:10
Hi George,
I also have the 9505A and I don't have an Iridium account. Just tried both my GSM and NextG SIM cards in and both work fine.
My gues is that your international roaming may not be enabled as this is the same message I got before Telstra enabled it.
I hope it all works out for you soon mate.
Regards,
Brett
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Follow Up By: George_M - Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:06
Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:06
Thanks Brett - at least I now know what should work.
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Reply By: geocacher (djcache) - Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:20
Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 at 23:20
To the experts that say it doesn't work all I can suggest is that they redo their research.
Starting at around about page 21 of the document at:
Telstra's mobile sat terms & conditions.
The cheeky bastards have recently put the int roaming method call costs up to $4 a minute too I notice.
Still cheaper than having an account though.
Dave
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Reply By: George_M - Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:05
Friday, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:05
Thank you all for your
feedback and information.
The consensus is that the 9505A should connect to the Iridium network if the GSM/NextG sim has global roaming activated.
Interestingly enough, the Telstra guy I spoke with on the number Willem posted said that this was not possible. On the other hand, the Telstra document posted by Dave shows that not only is it possible, but that Telstra expects customers to do so.
I'll go and
camp at my local Telstra store on Saturday until this is fixed - just hope that this unit has not been "locked" to an offshore service provider.
Thanks again!
George_M
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