Thread: Satellite Phones

I had been looking into a satellite phone, and I came across the iridium go system, which is a local wifi environment that you set up anywhere in which you can use your iphone to make satcalls anywhere - more accessible thab the thurya sleeve system.

Seems like it could be preferable to a straight satphone - about $1k + and use your mobile , thoughts anyone?

Been researching this for a while ... Irridium, Inmarsat, Globalstar, Thuraya ... a bit of a minefield ... options up the wazoo!! ... with the killer being either the cost of the calls, or the monthly cost of the plan, and the cost for people to ring you. I know I could slip my Telstra post paid global roaming sim into an Irridium phone ... but the hassle of swapping sims (phone lives in an Otterbox Defender case) and the call cost was a hassle I wasn't prepared to deal with. Why buy a $600-800-1000 phone and pack it away to maybe be never used unless there's an emergency need to fire it up ? If I'm going to buy it I want to be able to use it as and where I choose, conveniently.

Hiring is an option, but 2 x 30 day hires are roughly the price of the phone (not including calls).

I looked at HF radio, and I think it's got tons of merit, but the cost of the equipment is very expensive, it's tied to the vehicle, and a VKS737 subscription is still $130/yr ... but if your remote the morning/evening radio skeds are a plus, weather reports, ABC radio, and being able to possibly get assistance from someone close by is a BIG plus ... I'm likley to invest in a HF setup somewhere down the track ... maybe.

So I've done the deal and purchased a new satellite Thuraya XT-Lite handset outright including an extra 12v car charger for $850 including delivery (ex rentals were $720).

XT-LITE Satellite Phone | Thuraya

It's a basic handset that does calls and SMS. No data capability (and at $5/MB why would you? ... $5k/Gig ... right!! It's about the size of an iPhone 5s and about 2.5 times thicker. Very compact. 6hrs talk time and 80hrs standby. About 2.5hrs for a recharge.

I purchased the phone from Peter Davidson at Epirbhire (Buladelah / Upper Myall NSW)

EPIRBhire Australia Wide

Hire a Thuraya XT

... put it on a Pivotel $15/mth post paid plan (so you never run out of credit!) with calls at 0.99c/min and SMS at 0.50c each (for calls to Oz from anywhere in the world). There was a 1off $25 connection fee. I replied to Peters email answering the asked questions at 2.30pm and they did the complete sign-up process and the phone arrived next morning, activated, tested and ready to go. Painless !!

Pivotel Thuraya Voice Rate Plans

Pivotel do the XT-Lite direct at $699 but you have to sign up for a 24mth $30 or $65 plan (with no connection fee), otherwise they sell the phone for $799. Cheapest I found the phone for online was $789 ... but for a $50-60 premium it was worth dealing with Epirbhire (and they included an additional 2 x USB car chargers and USB to phone charging lead that's not normally supplied AND delivered it free of charge). Epirbhire provide 24/7 support ... you ring, you get Peter, who owns the business. Knows his stuff and gives good unbiased advice & assistance. Satcomms are his business. Who else do you know that you can ring at 8.30pm and discuss mobile phone handsets and plans !!?? (and he does all 4x sat' systems) A BIG thumbs up to Peter and his staff at Epirbhire !!! Exceptional service from a specialist business for a few bucks more ....

My Pivotel Sat' number is a std AUS mobile phone number. You wanna ring me ... you pay whatever your phone plan charges you for a std call to a mobile phone ... or to send an SMS. Costs me nothing to recieve calls and SMS.

I also considered Optus's deal on the same handset at $700, on a $15/mth plan with 0.95c/min calls and 0.50c SMS, and data at $2.50/MB, no connection fee, no min' term, disconnect/reconnect as & when you want with no additional cost ... but the number you get is an AUS Satellite phone number, and NO ONE (and believe me I searched ... even rang Optus Sat and THEY couldn't tell me) could tell me how much callers where going to be charged to ring me .... but this is a very viable option if all you ever want to do is make an emergency (or not) outgoing call on a plan that can be turned on/off at will for no additional cost

Optus Thuraya XT LITE

Irridium uses orbiting satellites that "hand-off" your call to the next sat' as they pass overhead. It can be subject to drop-outs ... and the Irridium system is quite old, but has true global coverage even to the polar regions (don't think I'm taking the D2 to the poles anytime soon! ). Inmarsat & Thuraya each use a geo-stationary satellite for the service, which means you need to be able to locate where in the sky the sat' is and point the handset antenna in that general direction ... so if there's a big hill, trees, obstacles in the way you need to reposition yourself. From home here I need to point WNW about 20-22deg above the horizon ... the further north you travel the higher the angle becomes. If you can get your head around that it works very well. You do carry a compass with you when travelling ... don't you? Turn the phone on, wait for it to get a GPS fix, point the antenna towards the satellite and it's done. The sat' then knows your GPS location and optimizes the connection to your exact location.

Inmarsat & Irridium on a plan are expensive. Irridium pre-paid is frightfully expensive ($3.30/30sec calls!! $110 connection fee & $22/mth) ... Inmarsat pre-paid is much cheaper, but incoming calls cost the caller around $15-18/minute

Sat phones aren't supposed to work indoors (or so my research tells me) ... my Thuraya XT-Lite does !! 2m away from 2x 2mx2m windows with closed timber venetian blinds, with a terracotta tile roof, heavy tree's outside the windows, more trees at the fenceline, and tall trees over the road, all right in the line of sight to the satellite, and I can send and recieve SMS messages without any problem. Very impressed !! ... haven't tried making a voice call from indoors yet, but with 3bars of service I expect it will work. Voice calls have a slight delay, but the audio quality is excellent and clear.

IMHO the Thuraya deal is the most cost effective for a casual service. Inmarsat is next for a prepaid (but don't have anyone ring you !!).

For me, $15/mth for a post paid, won't run out of credit service, is affordable ($180/yr). If I make 20min of calls in a month and send 10 SMS messages my bill would be $40. I call that very affordable for a satellite phone service ! ... and because it's affordable I can use it when I need without worrying about what it's costing me instead of keeping it packed away for emergency use only.

Thuraya/Pivotel have obviously realised that there's demand for an affordable handset and plan for non corporate/government customers and have delivered ... and I reckon it will only get cheaper as we progress forward !

If you've got questions fire away !

Cheers!