Changing Satellite Phone Service Providers from Pivotel to Telstra

..and that would be about $4.00 per minute, both ways.

Hi George & Joe

Thanks very much for your replies - I tried my wife's SIM and the phone worked fine. My mistake - thought my phone had international roaming but obviously it doesn't. DOH.

I knew that the call costs are expensive - the plan for the phone is to carry for emergency use only. I know that we can send/receive messages - any idea on the cost for these?

Thanks again, Geoff

Hi Reggy2

Thanks for the reply - plan to use my (or my wife's) SIM card in the phone as it will be only for emergency use.

Cheers, Geoff

"satellite positioned above Singapore called GO" - odd, in their ad (Road Ahead) Indigo say they use the Thuraya 3 satellite and phones, Graham. As discussed in this forum before, Thuraya is marginal in SE Aust (only about 20 degrees above horizon).
I agree though, use Telstra sim IF you already have a post-paid plan with them.

Cheers, John

I specifically asked the woman I spoke to as to whether they used the Globalsh++ satellite and her words were exactly.

"No we have our own which is stationed above Singapore and is called GO"

SO I can only repeat what she said. I know they use Thuraya phones.

Whether she meant our own as in Thuraya I dont know.

Yes the further south you go the worse it is.

Same as satellite TV its harder to tune in SA and places like Augusta.

For the huge difference in my cost I wouldnt bother.

Perhaps "GO" is just industry slang for "Geostationary Orbit" (or "Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite")?? And saying it's over Singapore is better than over Indonesia?

Cheers, John

And the cheapest call costs, no indial cost ( to you) and you can turn it off or on, on a daily basis.

If you keep the number it is 50c per day unused ot $10 per day used. On a day to day basis


I learned abou ti on this forum and 10 times better than using a telstra sim.

So tell me this, you are in the middle of nowhere and have the service turned off to save costs and you need to use it. How do you get the service turned on again.

I realise you would probably get it turned on before leaving civilisation but it could happen.

And $10 A DAY to use it Cheaper than a Telstra sim?????????????

I dont think so.

As I said I have had mine for two years with a total cost of $3.77

How is anything cheaper than that.

Graham H.

It takes about 15 mins for them to turn it on or off after you call them. I think you can call 24 x 7 but it might be business hours. I turn it on when I am leaving civilization then off when I return.

Also thanks for pointing out my typo.

I should have said 0.50c per day that is is not activated and $1.00 per day when it is. And you get $0.33C per day call credit accumulated on a monthly basis.

In other words if you left it on for the month it would cost $30 with $10 credit. No incoming costs.

Yeah thought so for the charge but.

For my 2 years it would have cost a minimum of $15 a month to have it NOT turned on. plus the $1 a day for the few days I had it on.

So that is $360 for nothing.

Mine cost nearly 100 times less at $3.77 and it was turned on if and when I needed it.

Cant see the logic in going with them unless you spent all the time having to have it on and even then a sim would be cheaper unless you made calls every day for a lengthly period.

Everyone to their own I guess but cant see the sense in paying for nothing.

Cheers looks like the OP is going with a sim anyway

Sorry Graham I didin't fully reply to your post.

I realize that the Telstra option is a good option for some. As you say you have only had a total bill for $3.77 for the one minute call you have made.

However as you can imagine everyone's situation is different. I recall from another post that your call was a short test one, fair enough. I used the telstra sim in my Sat phone too for a while however it turned out to be less attractive that it appears when you actually start to use it.

The biggest problem was that I could not filter incoming calls. In fact the caller ID doesn't work on the sat phone so if you want incoming calls at all you have to answer them to know who it is. Ka Ching $4.00

My outgoing bill was minimal but I found that I had to either accept an outragous incoming bill or turn it off all the time. So in that respect it limits that Satphone to a one way service. For me that is almost useless. The big issue is incoming callers don't care ( or know) that you are paying $4.00 per minute and call you for important things like to sell you cheap energy for your home. It was really useless and frustrating and made me search for a better option. To give you an idea, your Sat phone will ring just as frequently as your mobile does whn you are home.

If you want a super emergency outgoing only service that is one step up from a SPOT or EPIRB with no incrimental cost then the Telstra card may be attractive. However if you want a 2 way service that is on all the time you are traveling, and callers will only specifically call you for proper reasons then IMHO the TR Telecom can't be beat for value.

The other interesting side note is that when you have a real emergency, like I recently had in the simpson where I had to call for a doctor for someone, you may find that you end up spending about 40 mins or more on the phone.

With TR Telecom for that month my bill for 43 mins was $92.66 ( call costs were $86.00,and I had it activated for 10 days and $3.33 credit). If I was still on Telstra that bill would have been about $172. Of course in cases like that the price is secondary but for this year the costs will end up being about the same.

I guess my point is 50c per day when not in use, and $1.00 when in use for a true 2 way sat phone is better value for me than a free one that can only make outgoing calls. Each to their own but something for people looking at both options to consider before they go away.

Fair enough but as only about 4 people know my mobile number and were told to ring my wifes number I wouldnt have answered it anyway.

I do take your point about talking to the doctor.

We had it in the hope we would never have to use it.

Luckily we didnt apart from the day we were running very late and had forgotten about time zone change.

Will be interested to see what it has cost my mate who used his sim in it on a recent crossing of the Simpson.

He just used it as a quick call each night home and didnt accept inward calls either.

Cheers I have sold it so no more worries.

Thanks Mike, problem was with my SIM card. Works fine now.