Satellite Phones

ReverendSlappy

ReverendSlappy

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ReverendSlappy
Anybody have any experience with sat-phones (Iridium, Inmarsat, Globalstar, etc.)? I'm thinking of renting one for an upcoming sailing trip and I've heard mixed reviews. Any insight you might have on their reliability, a good place to rent from, etc. would be mighty helpful.

Thanks!
 
smigaldi said:
I have a lot of experience with Iridium. But most of it is Attorney-Client confidential ;)
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Hah! :D

I only know two other people that have used one before... the one used it predominantly on land and was happy with it; the other was on a boat and had trouble getting and keeping a connection. Though the latter couldn't recall if it was Iridium (which I've heard/read generally good stuff about) or Globalstar (which I've heard/read generally bad stuff about).

So I guess my question is, is it worth it? I figure worst-case scenario I'm out a little bit of dough for something that'll probably work pretty well.
 
ReverendSlappy said:
Hah! :D

I only know two other people that have used one before... the one used it predominantly on land and was happy with it; the other was on a boat and had trouble getting and keeping a connection. Though the latter couldn't recall if it was Iridium (which I've heard/read generally good stuff about) or Globalstar (which I've heard/read generally bad stuff about).

So I guess my question is, is it worth it? I figure worst-case scenario I'm out a little bit of dough for something that'll probably work pretty well.
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How far offshore will you be? If you are insight you will generally have coverage. Also it maybe better to have a good marine radio as Channel 16 is continuously monitored. I even guard that channel or channel 23A when I am flying.
 
smigaldi said:
How far offshore will you be? If you are insight you will generally have coverage. Also it maybe better to have a good marine radio as Channel 16 is continuously monitored. I even guard that channel or channel 23A when I am flying.
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The furthest off we'll be is, ehh... about 50NM or so. We're going to be sailing from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to the Turks & Caicos, which means we'll be generally paralleling the Dominican coast. So for a lot of the trip we'll be 20NM or less offshore... But I doubt I'd be able to get any kind of terrestrial signal from that far out.

The boat I'll be on has at least two good marine radios and an SSB (though I'm totally clueless about SSB, the skipper is pretty knowledgeable though unlicensed). My concern is less about emergency comms than it is about checking in with my girlfriend and mom (who will be nauseous with worry)... We're estimating the passage to be in the 60 hour neighborhood, which is a long time for the ladies to be fretting. :D
 
ReverendSlappy said:
The furthest off we'll be is, ehh... about 50NM or so. We're going to be sailing from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to the Turks & Caicos, which means we'll be generally paralleling the Dominican coast. So for a lot of the trip we'll be 20NM or less offshore... But I doubt I'd be able to get any kind of terrestrial signal from that far out.

The boat I'll be on has at least two good marine radios and an SSB (though I'm totally clueless about SSB, the skipper is pretty knowledgeable though unlicensed). My concern is less about emergency comms than it is about checking in with my girlfriend and mom (who will be nauseous with worry)... We're estimating the passage to be in the 60 hour neighborhood, which is a long time for the ladies to be fretting. :D
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The HF (SSB) will also be guarded and is what you need for emcomms. But you are well beyond terrestrial cell phone coverage. So the sat phone is your best option for normal health and welfare type traffic.

Go Iridium, it really does work well.
http://www.satellitephonestore.com/iridium/iridium-satellite-phone-rental.php

About $40/week to rent + your minutes which are a little less than $2/minute. GET PREPAID! And don't chit chat on it.
 
smigaldi said:
The HF (SSB) will also be guarded and is what you need for emcomms. But you are well beyond terrestrial cell phone coverage. So the sat phone is your best option for normal health and welfare type traffic.

Go Iridium, it really does work well.
http://www.satellitephonestore.com/iridium/iridium-satellite-phone-rental.php

About $40/week to rent + your minutes which are a little less than $2/minute. GET PREPAID! And don't chit chat on it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I figure... $60-100$ all-told is a pretty small price to pay to keep my Mom and girlfriend from having a nervous breakdown. And it'll be easy to keep the per-minute charges down... I hate talking on the phone enough as it is, so having a good excuse to limit the conversation to, "Hi, I'm alive, talk to you later!" is fine by me. :D

Thanks for the input!
 
I've rented Iridium phones from these guys a few times:
http://www.roadpost.com/
I don't know what their coverage looks like, I was in Alaska, or the lower 48, and never had any trouble with connectivity.

My experience with those guys was superb. Phone shows up on the day you tell them to make it appear, everything is always there, the phone's all charged, everything is done online and works right. They include the return shipping materials, you just throw it in the "bag" and drop it in a drop-box to ship home.

I always rented with no pre-paid minutes, because I intended the device more for emergencies than for "keeping in touch". I recall also using it for text messaging.
-harry
 
mantakos said:
I've rented Iridium phones from these guys a few times:
http://www.roadpost.com/
I don't know what their coverage looks like, I was in Alaska, or the lower 48, and never had any trouble with connectivity.

My experience with those guys was superb. Phone shows up on the day you tell them to make it appear, everything is always there, the phone's all charged, everything is done online and works right. They include the return shipping materials, you just throw it in the "bag" and drop it in a drop-box to ship home.

I always rented with no pre-paid minutes, because I intended the device more for emergencies than for "keeping in touch". I recall also using it for text messaging.
-harry
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Excellent! I'd seen a few other vendors, but based on your input I'll probably go with them. Thanks for the tip!
 
I've used both Iridium and Globalstar extensively.

The only thing that Globalstar has going for it is 1) price (slightly), and 2) units that have the capability to accept cellular (TDMA I think but I'm not positive) and satellite, if you subscribe to both.

As you are renting, I would go with Iridium, hands down.

Using handset and attached swing out boom antenna, both experience dropped calls, nothing you can do about it. Hard mounted units with base antennas do much, much better.
 
alaskaflyer said:
I've used both Iridium and Globalstar extensively.

The only thing that Globalstar has going for it is 1) price (slightly), and 2) units that have the capability to accept cellular (TDMA I think but I'm not positive) and satellite, if you subscribe to both.

As you are renting, I would go with Iridium, hands down.

Using handset and attached swing out boom antenna, both experience dropped calls, nothing you can do about it. Hard mounted units with base antennas do much, much better.
Click to expand...

Sweet... Thanks for the info. I'm almost definitely going with Iridium.
 
ReverendSlappy said:
The furthest off we'll be is, ehh... about 50NM or so. We're going to be sailing from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to the Turks & Caicos, which means we'll be generally paralleling the Dominican coast. So for a lot of the trip we'll be 20NM or less offshore... But I doubt I'd be able to get any kind of terrestrial signal from that far out.
Click to expand...

Ahh. When I read your first post, I thought it was of the Chicago-Mackinac variety of sailing. Good luck and be safe out there.
 
nddons said:
Ahh. When I read your first post, I thought it was of the Chicago-Mackinac variety of sailing. Good luck and be safe out there.
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Nah, no Mackinac trip this year... One of these summers, maybe. :)
 
alaskaflyer said:
I've used both Iridium and Globalstar extensively.

The only thing that Globalstar has going for it is 1) price (slightly), and 2) units that have the capability to accept cellular (TDMA I think but I'm not positive) and satellite, if you subscribe to both.

As you are renting, I would go with Iridium, hands down.

Using handset and attached swing out boom antenna, both experience dropped calls, nothing you can do about it. Hard mounted units with base antennas do much, much better.
Click to expand...

I work with satellite communications quite a bit. We sell Globalstar, Inmarsat and Hughes services to local and state governments.

Don't use Globalstar for any required communications. The Globalstar network lost a number of satellites a few years ago and their coverage is spotty at certain times of the day. They've launched replacements (and upgrades) recently and they are starting to come online but it's still a bit spotty. Iridium is much more reliable.

That's also the difference on pricing. Globalstar lowered their pricing to keep customers.

You might look at getting a BGAN with Inmarsat coverage. It requires a computer for alignment but is common for both data and voice coverage in remote areas. The Hughes 9201 is about the size of a laptop, has its own internal battery, and supports both voice (through ISDN or an ISDN Terminal Adapter to an analog phone) and data (up to 256K). It doesn't work well with VoIP, though (no sat comm really does well with VoIP).

GMPCS out of Florida does a lot of marine coverage. Check out http://www.gmpcs-us.com/?language=EN&textonly=False for more. They deal with rentals quite a bit, too, and carry a number of products and services to fit just about any application.
 
Brian Austin said:
I work with satellite communications quite a bit. We sell Globalstar, Inmarsat and Hughes services to local and state governments.

Don't use Globalstar for any required communications. The Globalstar network lost a number of satellites a few years ago and their coverage is spotty at certain times of the day. They've launched replacements (and upgrades) recently and they are starting to come online but it's still a bit spotty. Iridium is much more reliable.

That's also the difference on pricing. Globalstar lowered their pricing to keep customers.

You might look at getting a BGAN with Inmarsat coverage. It requires a computer for alignment but is common for both data and voice coverage in remote areas. The Hughes 9201 is about the size of a laptop, has its own internal battery, and supports both voice (through ISDN or an ISDN Terminal Adapter to an analog phone) and data (up to 256K). It doesn't work well with VoIP, though (no sat comm really does well with VoIP).

GMPCS out of Florida does a lot of marine coverage. Check out http://www.gmpcs-us.com/?language=EN&textonly=False for more. They deal with rentals quite a bit, too, and carry a number of products and services to fit just about any application.
Click to expand...

Brian: Thanks for the tips. I had considered the BGAN stuff, but I think I'll probably just be looking at an Iridium phone. But the Inmarsat stuff does look cool! Thanks again for the info.
 
Part of the problem at sea is you don't have a stable platform as you do on land. Your target satellite moves out of the coverage area as the boat rolls/pitches.
 
rodmadsen said:
Part of the problem at sea is you don't have a stable platform as you do on land. Your target satellite moves out of the coverage area as the boat rolls/pitches.
Click to expand...

That's more or less what I've also heard. Fortunately, since I'll only need to make 2 or 3 calls once per day (or even every other day), I'm not too worried; I can try to wait for conditions that'll be conducive to good signal quality.
 
Well, I couldn't have been happier with both Roadpost and Iridium. The phone showed up exactly when I needed it to with 2 fully charged batteries and all the accessories one could need. It performed well, also: Only 1 or 2 dropped calls over about 55-60 minutes or so of use, and decent quality.

The short of it: I enthusiastically second Harry's recommendation, and thank all of you for your input! :cheerswine:
 
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