Satellite phone in the desert?

The theory is that it won't matter where you are on the planet, a sat phone should give you contact.

My experience has been that the sat phone isn't quite as reliable as we are given to believe, depending on various issues, such as weather conditions etc.

However, if you try to make a call and fail, then if you wait a half hour (or whatever) and try again, you may have better luck ......

Hope this helps,

Roachie

Thanks for the link!

Hi Carlin, We bought one recently. We"d hired one from Kalgoorlie in previous yrs.
With a lot of research, we found that the Irridium is the one to go for. The sattelites for the others are too unreliable. Don't be fooled into the new cheaper one. If the Irridium has trouble just wait 10 mins to catch the next sattelite.
We were able to find where to hire a sat phone through a wonderfully helpfull bloke at The Australian National 4wd radio network inc. Committee member Barry Englefield 07 33562190 is one of the commitee members in an old book. for Qld.
We went through
the W.A. branch as we were going to W.A.
We bought ours from Jackie Willon at Safecity, she was very helpful. I haven't got her address at present. but could look it up this arvo if you want.
Take care, safe travels.
Bye. Sally.

I have a Motorola 9500 (7 years old). Have been with Telstra Iridium since I bought the phone all that time ago. Access is $30pm with $10 worth of free calls. Costs around $2.20 per minute for a call

Have never had an issue getting connected within 30 seconds anywhere in Australia (mostly very remote desert trips) and overseas in the southern hemisphere. Phone is still on its original battery!


Cheers

You can hire them from Birdsville and Mt Dare for one way travel across the Simpson, or even post it back to them when finished if you go elsewhere.

Sat Phone Hire - Birdsville & Mt Dare

Iridium have 24 satellites circling the earth.

Their base station is in USA and the satellites relay the comversation to each other till one can see the earth station and connect the call

The others have one satellite which may or may not decide to work.

By using an Iridium phone and a Telstra Sim card you can make calls for approx $3 a minute with no other charges.

You do however also pay for inward calls to the satphone using this method.

Is fine for a few calls and emergencies

The sim must NOT be a prepaid and must be internationally roamed to work

I would think the hire servic would be best if you only intend using it for one trip.

9505A's can be bought for around $1000 on Ebay Just be careful.

Hi Carlin,
Back again, I seem to have mislead people into into thinking you want
to buy one but buying or hiring the same advice applies. We bought one because we could use it for work as well and they have" plans " like a mobile , as Willem says. With the Thuraya, as has been said, regarding the satellites over Indonesia, they also shut them down willy nilly too. I've been told that by a person who really knows all about it. The satellites for the Iridium go past every 7 minutes apparently. The web site for The Australian National 4WD Radio Net work Inc. is http:// www. vks737.on.net if Mount Dare can't help. As I said, they might know of someone who hires them in your area or on the way to your journey beginning.
Take care. Safe travels.


Bye Sally.

I also have a 9500 and it has worked whenever i required it to. unfortunatley i required to use it several times between innamincka and birdsville and it connected straight away,also in the victorian high country in the bottom of a heavily treed valley it worked flawlessly. iridium is he only way to o IMHO

We carried our work Iridium across Brisbane to Perth by the Outback Way in December and back across the Nullarbor in the first week of Jan. Never a problem with contact, just the satellite delay in transmission for a second or three until a response is heard.
Cheers

Hi Carlin

We too chose the Iridium network, and when we needed to use the phone had problems with drop outs. A lucky chance meeting with friends in outback set me right; take off the portable antenna and only use the one on the car roof (magnetic). No more drop outs and a clearer signal thanks to that advice. You would need to persevere with the 'silly little antenna' if using it when on walks (in an emergencies).

Like Willem, we paid $30 per month being the cheapest monthly rate but calls dearest rate. As we only travel spasmodically, i suspended the plan (with a lot or argument to even do that) then reinstated it when we set off next trip. When we returned and i went to suspend again, Telstra staff said yes, but we only suspend for three months now. As we may not be travelling again for a year or two, i cancelled it, as i know someone who goes through an alternative provider (same network) for $30 per month. The only difference is that each new connection, he is allocated a new number. Not a problem for me as we only give out the number to immediate family for emergencies.

We met someone else who had purchased a prepaid amount of fees and calls through yet another provider, but that wouldn't have worked for us, as we rarely make calls, don't travel long term, and i think the minimum purchase was $800 covering monthly fees and calls.

Motherhen

Hi Carlin, there are a couple of places in Rockhampton you could try - let me know if you'd like phone numbers.
Hiring sat phones was expensive last time I looked, eg around $100/wk. Could be better to buy, then re-sell afterwards.

Cheers, John

Do you 'really' need a sat phone ? On the route that you have indicated you will never be more then half a day from some place that has a telephone for emergency calls.

KK

Look in the Trader there is one for sale $950 If its got the external aerial etc its a bargain and sell it when you have finished with it

Thats what I paid for mine. A 9505A

Any of the Iridium network options work well in all the locations you have mentioned. Be aware that the devices are quite big and they need to have reasonably clear access to the sky. They usually come with a magnetic antenna for use in a vehicle. They do not work well (if at all) inside a building. So they are not really like a mobile phone in that respect. Other than that they work easily and have voicemail etc as you would expect. Just use google or yellow pages to find hirers. We looked into hiring a few times and it was so expensive for the period (10 weeks) we ended up buying one. This was in the early days so hopefully the rate has dropped a bit. Make sure you have a practice before you go.

Steve