As the occasional private traveler, I find renting a sat phone the easiest option especially if up to 5 vehicles share the cost on the sometime mandatory 2 units per group.
7 to 14 days at $18.00/day with optional $3.00/day insurance and call charges at $1.00/ 20 seconds and sms/ text $0.75 ea. Relatively small cost for something that will save your life.
When I work remotely, I just draw an Iridium from stores and I occasionally manage to hang on to it for private travels, but more than often I just hire one.
Cheers,
Lou

