Iridium Phone?

[McRat]

Anyone use an Iridium satellite phone?

What did you think?

For those who don't know, this is a cellphone with global coverage. It communicates directly with a series of satellites so you could send and receive calls from out in the ocean, Mt. Everest, the middle of the desert, anywhere you can "see" a satellite. Kinda like a GPS phone.

 

[TIM Z]

Man i need one of those at my house, Terrible reception here.

Sounds like a cool phone, wander how much a monthly plan is ?

 

[McRat]

It's a buck a minute and the phones are $1,500. Kinda for emergency use.

When they came out, IIRC the phone was $10,000 and $10/minute.

 

[juddski88]

wow.....i wonder if that would cause a problem with OPSEC for us playing in the sandbox???

 

[slowlmm]

It's a buck a minute and the phones are $1,500. Kinda for emergency use.

When they came out, IIRC the phone was $10,000 and $10/minute.

we have one our boat. they work allright they dont work at certain times of the day due to incomplete satalite coverage and as you mentioned are verry expensive. but also as a last resort they could save your life when all else fails in the middle of no where. I consider them just another tool for the tool bag. It stays in our ditch bag along with vhf and gps radio and ebirb.

 

[MAXLLY]

we had 3 at the office. Can't speak to durability.

Never any issues here, other than the usual delay experienced in normal cell usage. We generally used them in Mexico and Europe.

 

[wikdlmm]

we have two.. they work great but they are expensive.. they are as big as the old bag phones!

 

[JoshH]

I have used them before. I used to use one to talk to the family when I was in the desert. They are okay, but I wouldn't want one to replace a cell phone or land line. They have a pretty significant delay and an echo sometimes. It would be good if you frequently travel outside cell phone coverage areas and need one in case of emergency, but for the price, you would have to really need one.

 

[sweetdiesel]

Whatever you do DONT get a Global Star!

Sold us on a unlimited package but it is always searching for service

Junk I tell ya

 

[fajitatone]

We used one to call the fire department when we were rafting last year in Oregon. Wildfire was headed towards us so before we hit the water we gave the fire folks GPS coordinates and got in the water.

There was no cell service in the area.

 

[MMLMM]

meh....

too expensive, stick with all metal design, made in USA!

 

[Alligator]

meh....

too expensive, stick with all metal design, made in USA!

:rofl: Smart Ass. The Mtn. Dew kicked in:hello:

 

[LBZ]

Whatever you do DONT get a Global Star!

Sold us on a unlimited package but it is always searching for service

Junk I tell ya

I doubt it's the provider slim. The farther north you go, the harder it gets to get a signal without a repeater tower or a HUGE antenna due to the fact that most of the communication satellites are hovering around the equatorish area's.

We had to go through a large antenna and 3 towers before it would find one that could find a satellite when I was working up in the arctic circle-talk about a delay in the conversation. It was like using a telegraph network!:rofl:

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

We have one on the boat also. It saved my buddies life last year when he got the benz scuba diving and we had to call DAN.