Satphones

Hello all, Going thru Flinders ranges , Wilpena Pound, Odnadatta, Dalhousie Old Andado then west Macdonalds (Mereenie loop) ie out of mobile and net range. Need to access business messages left on my office voice mail in July holidays and to call people back.

Seems satphones access those messages thru a USA satellite gateway in Arizona by having my office telephone service provider here divert messages to "CALL FORWARD" in the USA and then the satphone alerts me to the message being received. Sounds great to me. Anyone heard of FASTWAVE in Perth. They quoted $13 per day rental for 37 days for a satphone. Opinions welcome on this or other options.

Being the last person on earth not to own a mobile phone is there one that can access satelites and get the same results as sat phones. Thanks Greg
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Reply By: George_M - Monday, Mar 22, 2010 at 16:58

Monday, Mar 22, 2010 at 16:58
This is what I do...

If you are only interested in getting voice messages (as opposed to making lots of voice calls) then hire a Motorola Satphone connected to the Iridium network, and fit your own Telstra GSM or NextG sim card.

Divert your office message service to your mobile service. Diverty our mobile service to voice mail - messages probably go there anyway if you're out of range.

At the end of each day, fire up your Satphone service and wait for any message notifications to be received. If you get any, then use the Satphone to call your mobile voicemail service to retrieve them.

George_M
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Follow Up By: Member - Greg S (NSW) - Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 17:31

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 17:31
Thanks George. The way I see it is that clients will leave messages on this USA site (iridium) . I'll access them by sat phone and then have to use the sat phone to call them back - unfortunately at about $3 per minute according to Fastwave. Therefore, I'll probably have to spend quite some dollars in call charges
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Reply By: Member - Bucky - Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 06:58

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 06:58
Reality check needed

When is a holiday not a holiday, when you take your work with you..

Why don't you get an answering service, to handle your messages..
Call in once a week, from a phone at a caravan park, and enjoy yourself.
You are a long time dead.


Cheers
Bucky
AnswerID: 410147

Follow Up By: Member - Greg S (NSW) - Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 17:38

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 17:38
Thanks Bucky, good points raised.
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Reply By: vk1dx - Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:23

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:23
Greg

Watch who pays for the diversion?

We got a hundreds plus bill for what was supposed to be one short simple call to a mobile. Seems the fool went OV and set up the diversion but got the charges wrong. It cost us heaps for a simple call to a sparky. I only call mobiles now as a last resort. Amazing how our phone bill is now less than half what it used to be! Now that is a bonus.

The hired sat phone on the iridium network seems the most popular for those who prefer not to buy one.

Just an idea but: Have you thought about 4WD HF on one of the VKS737 systems?

Phil
AnswerID: 410174

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