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Sat phones????

2K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  SailNet Archive 
#1 ·
I need a sat phone. I thought this had been done here but I cant seem to find it. Whats out there, good, bad? How fast can I get it?
 
#2 ·
Globalstar is not working very well this season in the Caribbean and Bahamas. Lots of complaints. Iridium seems better but a bit more money. Globalstar has resorted to giving customers more time but what's the use of the minutes if you can't get a connection or are dropped a half dozen times in one conversation.
 
#4 ·
I've not seen Vasco's comment repeated anywhere else. Vasco...what is different this year vs. other years? Are you using just a handset or the external antenna?
Globalstar served us well thoughout the Caribe...and had spotty outages as satellites came across the horizon but nothing serious. For the Caribe it is by FAR the most widely used and CHEAPEST to use system. I understand they are putting up eight new satellites by June so things should improve more.
 
#5 ·
Depends on where you're going. If you're going to Asia, the South Pacific or Africa, Thuraya makes phones and sell plans with much better coverage. Pricey though.
 
#6 ·
Yup...and Iridium has great coverage at high prices elsewhere in the world. Point is that Globalstar will cost about 25 cents a minute in the Bahamas and Caribe. No one can touch that...so you put up with some disconnects along the way! Works best on data too...9600 baud.
 
#7 ·
Cam,

Been talking to my buddies. Even with the marine antenna kit it's no good. They claim they're repositioning the satellites or something but frankly I don't think they have enough satellites to give good coverage. I have heard they're trying to raise $400 million and are not doing so well. Last year it was poor but bearable, this year it's too unreliable.
 
#9 ·
Rick...the only place I've seen it trashed is you and a couple of others on CS-BB. Nothing reported on any of the other boards...not anyreports in the legitimate marine or news press I can find. Not saying it isn't true in the Bahamas this year...just know my own experience and the fact that it remains in use by Parker for weather and Pavlidas as well and have heard no issues from them.
How about it...anyone else out there with current Globalstar experience?!
 
#10 ·
I had very bad experience with globalstar from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas 2 years ago. Since this trip I have been using Iridium- 3 trips from Hawaii to CA for 2006 – it works every time all the time. It is more $ but we keep it only for weather updates- most of the time is in Pelican case in the grab bag. The phone Motorola 9505A works from below decks with no problem
 
#12 · (Edited)
Wildcard-

Thuraya does cover the pacific and africa quite thoroughly. I was equipping journalists with the Thuraya phones, for deployment in Iraq/Afghanistan and they performed quite well.

I understand that they now make a small Iridium like handset that uses an omnidirectional antenna... so it might be worth investigating. One phone in particular that may be of interest to you is their SG-2520 model, which is both GSM-triband and Satellite capable. This would probably simplify and reduce your costs when traveling in areas with GSM coverage.

Also, be aware that it is against the law to use a satellite-based phone within the borders of the US, without a waiver from the FCC. So, if you get one and want to test it, either get a waiver or go offshore to do your testing.
 
#15 ·
wildcard said:
I have never heard the no US use thing. Why is that? Is this an FCC rule of some sort???????
It was, at least when I was working with testing sat phones for journalists back in 1999-2002. Probably still is...
 
#17 ·
From what I understand, satellite phones are meant for use outside of the CONUS borders. Use within CONUS is limited to emergency and military personnel, unless you have an FCC waiver. I think one reason for it is the difficulty of tracking satellite phone users... unlike a cell phone—who can be localized to within a few square miles, a satellite phone user can be almost anywhere within the footprint of the satellite.
 
#18 ·
we have mini-m and iridium

The mini-m is 100 % all the time from africa to the carib to the usa. never dropped a call, iridium is ok but i wind up repeating myself and a number of times .
my shipmate uses globalstar. he says something about they are repositioning satellites. he gets lousy reception
fair winds,
eric
 
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