Iridium Go

[87County]

My family now insist that I carry satcoms with me for emergencies when I venture into non-mobile coverage areas (they think I'm getting too old :) ).

After researching - it seems to me that the Iridium satellite wi-fi "Go" system (used with a smart phone) is the most straightforward, convenient and lowest priced practical option.

https://www.iridium.com/products/details/iridiumgo

Has anyone had any experience with the Iridium Go system - good or not so good ?

So, as I'm about to lash out $2k (device+prepaid), your comments/answers would be appreciated - thanks :)

[Dop]

I'm not real good with too much of this modern computer stuff, but I have heard of an app (a term I hate) that you put on your phone. If your in or out of a service area and you are lost or in trouble you activate this app and it locates you via satellite and sends your position to the authorities. I heard that the first week it was released it saved the life of two bush walkers. However, as I say, I don't know what it is called or how to get it, so I will leave you with this useless piece of info. Sorry, Grant

[Tombie]

The new Spot would work for you.. and a lot cheaper..

Sat phones are often woftam...
The Spot (high end one) can send SMS and signal for help.

I refused to carry my Work SatPhone as it was useless.

[MVFrancis]

I went through all the options available about 12 months ago before the trip to Lorella Springs. In the end I went for a Iridium 9575 from Telstra. I haven't kept up to date with technology since, so how useful this info will be is debatable.

The main factor I would say is whatever you go with, use the Iridium network of satellites. I have never not had reception (despite everyone telling me it would be useless up in the Gulf), and have successfully made phone calls from the bottom of valleys in the High country. I charge it, turn it on and test it before I go out each trip, it otherwise sits turned off in it's case for 99% of the time.

It's probably not the cheapest option at $105 a month (for the first 2 years until I pay off the handset at least), but I know it will work, and if I ever use it in anger it instantly pays for itself. By the same logic, for the peace of mind it gives me, $2k over 2 years is nothing.

Happy researching!

[PhilipA]

I'm not real good with too much of this modern computer stuff, but I have heard of an app (a term I hate) that you put on your phone.

There is a misconception around that if you are out of range of your provider that if you ring 000 it goes to a satellite.

AFAIK what happens is that it will roam and find any provider and link via them.
I have been told the satellite story before and checked it out then.

If it is so easy , why does a sat phone cost $1000? and why are SPOT and satsleeves sold.
Regards Philip A

[Fluids]

I last month, did a new sat phone, for $850 on a $15/month no contract/term with calls at 0.99c/min and SMS at 0.50c per message ... Post paid, so I never run out of credit, and the calls are cheap enough that I'm not worried about using it ... That's roughly $1k for the first year plus calls ... $180/yr for the service plus calls after that ... $2k takes you along way on this deal.

No, it doesn't do data, but really, at $5/MB ... $5000/GB why do you want data ?

Cheers

[87County]

Thanks Kev , who is that satphone with please?

[MVFrancis]

There is a misconception around that if you are out of range of your provider that if you ring 000 it goes to a satellite.

AFAIK what happens is that it will roam and find any provider and link via them.



Correct. I've had quite a few arguments with people over this one. Here's the official quote from the government website

"112 is a secondary emergency number that can be dialled from mobile phones in Australia. Special capabilities, including roaming, once only existed when dialling 112, however mobile phones manufactured since January 2002 also provide these capabilities when dialling Triple Zero (000) to access the Emergency Call Service.

There is a misconception that 112 calls will be carried by satellite if there is no mobile coverage. Satellite phones use a different technology and your mobile phone cannot access a satellite network.

Important ? if there is no mobile coverage on any network, you will not be able to reach the Emergency Call Service via a mobile phone, regardless of which number you dialled."

Triple Zero (000) (http://www.triplezero.gov.au/Pages/Usingotheremergencynumbers.aspx)

[Dop]

Correct. I've had quite a few arguments with people over this one. Here's the official quote from the government website

"112 is a secondary emergency number that can be dialled from mobile phones in Australia. Special capabilities, including roaming, once only existed when dialling 112, however mobile phones manufactured since January 2002 also provide these capabilities when dialling Triple Zero (000) to access the Emergency Call Service.

There is a misconception that 112 calls will be carried by satellite if there is no mobile coverage. Satellite phones use a different technology and your mobile phone cannot access a satellite network.

Important ? if there is no mobile coverage on any network, you will not be able to reach the Emergency Call Service via a mobile phone, regardless of which number you dialled."

Triple Zero (000) (http://www.triplezero.gov.au/Pages/Usingotheremergencynumbers.aspx)
I agree, what I meant was that this "app" accesses the satellite the same way your "map feature" does. The phone becomes a gps that gives your location. Anyway, I have no idea what it is, how or if it works. But I have been able to see my position on the map with my phone when I've had no mobile signal!

[MVFrancis]

My understanding of that is that yes, your phone will be able to display it's location on a map, as the map has been saved to your device whilst in range of service. I used my normal phone in exactly this method whilst on Lorella Springs and also down the Oodnadatta track. Worked very well.

Where it becomes a problem is that whilst the phone knows exactly where it is, it has no method to transfer this information to any other party- hence the need for sat sleeves etc.

I am intrigued nonetheless and will try and find anything further :)

Anyway sorry for the hijack

[Tombie]

The App links the phone to the sat-sleeve which is stand alone in the application being mentioned.

Work had both the external and mated sleeve versions for trial..

[roverrescue]

Mike
Did you trial the Optus thuraya sat hot spot by any chance.... I am contemplating one
Works out cheaper than Telstra equivalent

Sending txt on standalone sat phones brings the suck I would much prefer to keep contacts and iPhone interface for txt ....

Steve

[Tombie]

No Steve we didn't. Company is contracted with Telstra so Optus etc don't get a look in.

[TheTree]

I went through all this recently and decided on the Inreach SE; it uses the iridium network so coverage is excellent, you can send and receive text messages and send an emergency sms as well. Also much cheaper than a phone [emoji106]

http://www.alwaysinreach.com.au/

[87County]

Thanks TTree, have you had satisfactory sms operations with it ?

[TheTree]

Thanks TTree, have you had satisfactory sms operations with it ?

So far I haven't registered it and used the sms function but from everything I read they are super reliable.

I have used it as a handheld gps and used the app on my phone and ipad and that works very well.

I notice they have a phone only version now with no screen of it's own. I still like the SE for it's standalone ruggedness though

I will probably go for the "Safety Plan" at $20 a month sometime soon. I like the way can can suspend your plan at any point for $6 and reactivate it at no cost.

Steve

[Fluids]

Thanks Kev , who is that satphone with please?

Gday mate. It's a Thuraya Lite-XT on a Pivotel Casual $15/month plan. See Pivotel web site for the plan and rates ... Phone is cheaper from Pivotel than I paid BUT you have to take a 2yr contract at $35 or $65 per month to get the phone at the cheaper price. Was much cheaper to do it my way and buy the phone outright.

I went through Epirbhire EPIRBhire Australia Wide (http://www.epirbhire.com.au) as they are only about an hour away from me, and Peter who runs the business really knows his stuff. I think they have the phone new now for $799 (and they have ex rentals as well ... and they do all the sat carriers phones and services) and they'll setup your Pivotel account for you. Was quick and simple and I had the phone in my hands activated and working in under 24hrs ... and Peter is available 24/7 if you have problems. Can't recommend him highly enough.

Cheers

[Fluids]

Here's a copy of a post I put up on myswag.org a couple of weeks ago ... FYI.


Last trip away to keep in touch with work we would use the iPhone as a hotspot, but in some area's there's not enough signal for that to be a viable option ... so we added a 4G WiFi modem with an external 7db antenna mounted ontop of a 7m telescopic fibreglass mast (packs down to just under 2m) ... in fringe area's where there's little or no signal for the handset we get 1-3 bars of 3G service on the wifi modem ... the phone is on a 10gig monthly plan ($60/month) and the 4G Wifi Modem is on a 24month expiry pre-paid $140/16GB. In many places we stopped where others around us had no service we did with the mast setup.

For this years trip the coverage maps show no service, so I looked into the sat' phone route ... minefield !!

Long story short ... Went with the Thuraya system (XT-Lite handset - calls and sms only - Purchased phone through Epirbhire. You can google them. $50 more than I could find elsewhere but I'm dealing with a specialist, not a box retailer, who are contactable 24/7. I would reccomend them highly!!). The calls are 0.99c/min, no flagfall, the sms are 0.50c each, and the plan is $15/month with no minimum term. The plan is post paid with Pivotel. You don't run out of credit when you MAY need it the most, no swapping SIM cards between devices (iphone in an otterbox defender case) AND at this monthly rate and call costs, we CAN use the phone freely without incurring the national debt. Callers to the service only pay whatever their plan charges them for a call to a std Australian mobile phone number, or to send an SMS (so for most your included calls/sms mean you incur no additional charge to ring my sat' phone) ... Immarsat system by comparison cost people who call YOU around $15-18 per minute !! Irridium is too expensive. I pay $180/year for a sat' service + calls and at that price I consider it cheap ... and work pays for the plan, and work purchased the phone outright. If I dont use the service I'm paying $15/month. Big deal. The number for my sat' service is a std Australian mobile phone number. Pivotel have a nice customer log-in that lets you look at all your unbilled calls, sms, and all in/out traffic with itemized call costs and numbers shown. Appears to update every 24hrs, and my monthly bill is emailed to me with 14 days or so to pay.

This Pivotel plan provides data capability, BUT, data is $5.00/MB ... yes ... $5000/GB ... Optus had the phone for $700 (no minimum term) on a very similar, slightly cheaper call rate/$15month plan and data was $2.50/MB ... yep, $2500/GB ... question is, HOW BAD do you need data ??? ... for me, not that bad. I passed on Optus as even their satellite specialists couldn't tell me how much incoming calls were likley to cost the caller .... BUT you could buy the phone for $700, take the $15 plan for a month THEN cancell and you've scored a cheap Thuraya XT-Lite ... :)

So IF work needs me that bad, they call the sat' phone, leaving a voice message (costs me $0.99c/min to retrieve the voice mail) OR they send an SMS to the sat' phone (which costs me nothing to recieve ... calls or sms inbound cost me nothing) ... We intend to check the sat' phone every morning and every evening when we are out of normal mobile coverage area's ... IF the need to call back or log-in to work is urgent, I can ring, or SMS, or if it has to be a data connection it just has to wait until we have enough mobile coverage to run up the 7m mast and fire up the 4G wifi modem (which runs 3G in outback area's) and do what's gotta be done ... sometimes, even when your on holidays, you can't just walk away from your business for 3-4 weeks and not be contactable. An unfortunate fact of being in business these days.

All the other (3x) sat' systems available are too expensive for a casual month by month plan, have call costs that are 2-3 times (or more) than Thuraya, have handsets that cost far more, and data on any of them is prohibitively expensive ... and the data speeds are way slow ... I think Thuraya's data speeds are faster than the other 3x .... If you want data, Thuraya do an XT (full spec, not Lite) data capable phone ... best I found was around $1300 outright + your plan.

The sat' phone, chargers, leads, 12v chargers, 4G Wifi etc all are packed into a Pelican 1200 case, packed away in the rear drawers. If we had a rollover, this protects these items and makes them still workable for emergency comm's. The 4G wifi modem has the ability to compose and send an SMS message stand alone without a phone or laptop connected.

There are Sat' Sleeve, Sat' Hotspot products from Thuraya that allow you to use your Android or iPhone as the Sat' handset connected via WiFi to these devices, but if your Mobile device is damaged (they tend to ride loose in the cabin, not packed in a case) the sleeve/Hotspot devices can only send a pre-configured message to a preset (by you) number ... They will do data just like you'd use your iPhone for example when connected to the cellular mobile network, but the cost of the data makes it prohibitive. I prefered the idea of a completely separate stand alone phone ... which I can afford to use when stationary each morning/night ... $15plan + 10x 2min calls + 10x SMS messages gets me a $40 bill for the month ... I think Telstra starts at $35/month Irridium plan with no calls with calls at $3.40/minute ???

The XT-Lite handset works like my old Nokia 5110 ... calls, sms, basic mobile phone handset. It's a tad larger than an iPhone 4S and a bit thicker. From here (Newcastle area) the sat' is 22deg above the horizon, in a stationary orbit above Singapore ... point the phone WNW at 22deg up, wait for a GPS fix, wait for service to acquire, then dial ... takes a couple of minutes. The further north, or north west you travel, the higher above the horizon you point ... Once the phone has a fix and has acquired the service, I can actually take it inside and sit it on the coffee table ... it alerts you to incoming calls or sms and asks you to take the phone outside to where you have a clear view of the sky ... in practice, tree's are a no no but I've found that you can maintain enough service under tree cover to get an sms in or out ... if your in a big ass valley with a giant mountain between you and the satellite you will have to change your location.

Hope this helps !

Cheers

[laughto]

Thanks Kev , who is that satphone with please?

A great write up on available solutions by Fluids here - http://www.aulro.com/afvb/communications-car-audio-electronics/236659-satellite-phones-2.html#post2559363

Edit: oops, I most of the linked post is above!

[Fluids]

Thanks ... I'd forgot about that post on AULRO ... KRAFT :p

[TheTree]

Here's a copy of a post I put up on myswag.org a couple of weeks ago ... FYI.


Last trip away to keep in touch with work we would use the iPhone as a hotspot, but in some area's there's not enough signal for that to be a viable option ... so we added a 4G WiFi modem with an external 7db antenna mounted ontop of a 7m telescopic fibreglass mast (packs down to just under 2m) ... in fringe area's where there's little or no signal for the handset we get 1-3 bars of 3G service on the wifi modem ... the phone is on a 10gig monthly plan ($60/month) and the 4G Wifi Modem is on a 24month expiry pre-paid $140/16GB. In many places we stopped where others around us had no service we did with the mast setup.

Cheers

That's pretty much the route i have taken with a slightly smaller mast which will go on top of the rangie when needed and should reach around 5m

Steve

[roverrescue]

87County
Not sure if you have made a move yet but i pulled the trigger on
The thuraya satsleeve hotspot with Optus $15/m casual plan.
I went the hotspot for two reasons, the sleeve won't fit with a life proof case and the hot spot easily lets multiple users use sat Comms

It is a neat unit and worked flawlessly with the iPhone 6s
Gets full sat signal (Cooktown) in less than a minute and the wifi connection is strong
Easy 30m

The thuraya app is pure simple
Means I can access contacts and write sms easily

I've used near all flavours of older school sayts and they generally suck to type sms with!

Pretty neat set up and was simple to arrange

S