SAT phones

[EDELWEISS]

While traveling in Wyoming I came across Sportsmans Warehouse, while wandering the aisles I stopped at an add for SPOT Sat Phones. SPOT are the same folks who make the emergency loacators you activate when lost (sorta like your personal black box). Anyway the SPOT Sat Phone was $499 with a $499 rebate if you took their service plan, which really wasnt bad ($60month for 100 minutes or you could pay the full year up front and your unused minutes would roll over).

I was ready to jump on it only to find out they were sold out!

Heres the fine print SPOT uses Low Earth Satellites (as opposed to High Orbit Geosynchronous). Low Orbit means you have to say in place once your "locked" on to a satellite. High Orbit means you can run and gun and keep connected to say happy birthday to your kids. Low Orbit also means the use area is or can be more restricted. High Orbit generally means you can be anywhere you have a view of the sky and the phone will work. For example the SPOT phone doesnt cover the oceans or Afrika (yet).

Its the Afrika part that lost my sale but seeing how bad regular cell reception was as we traveled in the Yellowstone region made me think I probably "have to have" a Sat Phone.

Now the question is which one???

[Echo17]

Well Satcom direct is the family business so to speak, so I would have to recommend them :)

Far from the cheapest, but based on the clientele, probably the best, 1, number anywhere, all the time!

[TACC]

Tagged for interest
How much is the High Orbit SAT phones ?

[mike135]

I've always thought a great business opportunity was to sell affordable sat phone setups (it would be ok to require a directional antenna if that improves the price) that you would just buy and put in the closet and forget about until The Big One hits you. You make your money on initial sales and then when people need them, who wouldn't pay a ridiculous price/minute when they have no other option?

Unfortunately, it seems the sat phone market is mostly focused on government and business interests who just need the traditional phone experience in areas with no cell coverage. That makes the cost prohibitive to the typical prepping-minded individual.

[EDELWEISS]

I've always thought a great business opportunity was to sell affordable sat phone setups (it would be ok to require a directional antenna if that improves the price) that you would just buy and put in the closet and forget about until The Big One hits you. You make your money on initial sales and then when people need them, who wouldn't pay a ridiculous price/minute when they have no other option?

The SPOT and maybe some others (mostly Low Orbit) are cheaper - under $1000 but the coverage makes them less then universal

Unfortunately, it seems the sat phone market is mostly focused on government and business interests who just need the traditional phone experience in areas with no cell coverage. That makes the cost prohibitive to the typical prepping-minded individual.

From a "routine" Emergency POV (Katrina, lost/hurt in the woods, hunting in out of the way places, even running and gunning in some ugly places etc), they'll work fine BUT in a Tinfoil government amok I wouldn't count on unauthorized access to the satellites. For THAT you need radios...

Perhaps another way to look at it is to determine how far from the equator you think youll be when you need to use the Sat Phone. The Low Orbit satellites rotate above the equator, this causes coverage issues the further you are from there.

Personally as much as I wanted the SPOT (low orbit) phone for its cost (both phone and service) when I first saw it, Im now convinced I want/need an High Orbit system, so now its just a question of how much do I want it. The Iridium (High Orbit) phones are $1000 and higher and the air time pricey BUT its a world wide option. I "hear" talk that SPOT and other Low Orbit systems are improving coverage (Im sure its a demand thing) but until I can count on southern Afrika, Im not interested. Also many of the Low Orbit systems don't include the oceans, so if you thinking youd like to avoid the huge cruise line fees for calls then a High Orbit phone is the way to go.

Most (all?) of the Sat phones can be rented fairly cheaply so that's another option if youre traveling. Theres even a system that clips onto your IPhone and "converts" it to a Sat Phone (lite); but it doesn't work in the US....

Oh and if you aren't confused yet??? Theres the question of can they be taken out of the U.S. to questionable areas--like where you might reeeeeeely want them

[thewolverine]

These links are a bit dated but add some insight. Iridium and Globalstar are LEOs, but Iridium has more satellites so they get polar coverage. Globalstar has fewer platforms so they have inclination to allow them to cover as much as their constellation will allow based on how they are launched. Globalstar is updating a lot so who knows. There are
lots of variables in a LEO constellation and GEOs and HEOs. The latter need different launch vehicles , and it's an expensive and involved process with the vehicles, launch, ground, and operations support. and the ground terminals to support the constellations vary depending on purpose of the vehicle and how data is delivered, as well as health and welfare of vehicles.

http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=242951891

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalstar

[thewolverine]

Oops. Also- Texting and Voice are different, as Globalstar uses " dumb " (SW resides on ground vice vehicle for Globalstar)vehicles so they are definitely more dependent on their ground terminals and they do not have them everywhere in the world. I believe their texting coverage is much better than their voice. They use CDMA for their system. Also believe their LEO or it is twice as high as Iridium.

[apamburn]

I've seen them as cheap as $100 on eBay.

Actually saw a GlobalStar 1600 for $50 - no battery or charger.

I guess they use LEO so you may not be interested.

You might check there. But Sat Phones are something I have long been considering as my family lives on the East Coast and I am in Utah, and if a serious event occurred I would have trouble contacting them.

[EDELWEISS]

I've seen them as cheap as $100 on eBay.

Actually saw a GlobalStar 1600 for $50 - no battery or charger......

Yes Ive seen them cheap there too. Youre right the cheap ones do seem to be Low Orbit types, plus I have no idea where to find batteries, chargers, sim cards and instruction manuals, etc OR how much theyd cost. Ive been tempted BUT ebay is not the place I want to looking for customer service

[apamburn]

I might buy one and see how it goes. I'll figure out the battery and what not. I'll report back if / when I do.

[bog]

Been using an Iridium 9555 the last few days, seems like usually the call is about 5 to 8 minutes before the satellite you are linked to goes over the horizon and it drops, not the same sound and a little statikey at times but pretty damn decent for checking in from the boonies, definitely better than a SPOT pre-programmed or "everything is OK" message, also definitely good enough for an emergency or if your wifey is willing to answer a couple of times and you have to repeat the last sentence you said on the prev call. I'm in the western US (NV) in case that matters.

To clarify, my reason for editing is I had the wrong phone model, Iridium 9555 is right, but the title of my comment now appears to be "wrong phone model" so I must have typed it in the wrong spot (pun not intended), ha ha.