Satellite phones?

[ibanezfoo]

I hate the Iridium.


we have them for work. Always losing signal. Plus no one can call them because of the international number.

Thats what my friend works on... supposedly they upgraded them but nobody wants to pay for the upgraded version. And the Russians took out one of the satellites with their space junk.

[2shotjoe]

Thats what my friend works on... supposedly they upgraded them but nobody wants to pay for the upgraded version. And the Russians took out one of the satellites with their space junk.

that was China, Russia isn't that stupid.

[Yugo]

I believe nextel still does satalite phones.

[Yugo]

Iridium 9550

[bigmike82]

The Inmarsat isat phone pro has really good quality, but the registration process makes you want to chuck it across the parking lot. It's also fairly inexpensive and the voice quality is actually really good.

[cranemech]

Freonr22,

Clark Howard has some recommendations on his web site for using a cell phone in foreign countries.

http://www.clarkhoward.com/categories/technology/phones-mobile-devices/using-cell-phones-overseas/

[Dezert_Tacoma]

Nextel isn't a satellite based service but Nextel does have service in Argentina. Using Direct-Connect you can talk back and forth all you want for a low rate. Data roaming is free as well except its slow.

[TurboChrisB]

I have a globalstar sat phone that I use when I'm off 4 wheeling. The coverage isn't 100%....but they charge $20 a month for UNLIMITED usage for new accounts. Go here http://calltimes.globalstar.com/ and dial in the area to see how much coverage they have. It's improving as they send up more sats.

[ke6guj]

Thats what my friend works on... supposedly they upgraded them but nobody wants to pay for the upgraded version. And the Russians took out one of the satellites with their space junk.

that was China, Russia isn't that stupid.

um, no, it WAS Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision

The collision destroyed both Iridium 33 (owned by Iridium Communications Inc.) and Kosmos 2251 (owned by the Russian Space Forces). While the Iridium satellite was operational at the time of the collision, the Russian satellite had been out of service since at least 1995 and was no longer actively controlled.[8][9] Kosmos-2251 was launched on June 16, 1993, and went out of service two years later, in 1995, according to Gen. Yakushin.[10]

[GrizzlyGuy]

I have a globalstar sat phone that I use when I'm off 4 wheeling. The coverage isn't 100%....but they charge $20 a month for UNLIMITED usage for new accounts. Go here http://calltimes.globalstar.com/ and dial in the area to see how much coverage they have. It's improving as they send up more sats.

I have one too for the same reason, and it absolutely sucks. Before I do a big ride on my ATV I use their "call times tool" to print out a schedule of the rare times that it is supposed to work. God help me if I do an endo in between the scheduled times.

Actually I probably don't need God as my SPOT is pretty danged reliable. But it won't work for what OP wants to do.

[cruising7388]

I called Verizon for the heck of it this morning, it would be $5/min for cell service roughly, so the $1.50/min option is more attractive, relatively speaking. There maybe an issue getting landline there if not a citizen, it's kinda weird, and it's hard to get info from a 21 year old. Thank you very much for the input on the iridium.

Another player in the sat phone business is Globalstar. Voice quality of any of these providers is OK. But their data rates suck.

[cruising7388]

I have a globalstar sat phone that I use when I'm off 4 wheeling. The coverage isn't 100%....but they charge $20 a month for UNLIMITED usage for new accounts. Go here http://calltimes.globalstar.com/ and dial in the area to see how much coverage they have. It's improving as they send up more sats.

I don't know the current rate system for these sat services but 10 years ago, while the call from the sat phone to a landline was reasonable in cost, it was a hell of a lot more expensive to call the sat phone from a landline.

[Eirerogue]

I carry my Iridium 9550 worldwide and it's extremely reliable. My phone is work-related and they cover the bill. Way too pricey for a chat phone!