Satellite Phones

[jbq004]

Leaving soon for Afghanistan, I was wondering about satellite phones. Are they worth it? Which ones are the best? How much money should they cost? Any info would be great. Thanks a lot.

[VelociMorte]

Unless someone else is paying the bill, it's not worth it. If you are able to access a U.S. military installation, you'll have phone service.

[Jaeger1980]

Hello Gentlemen.

We (some comrades I served with and myself) are planing a trip through Western Africa. We have two Iridium Motorola 9505A.

Could anyone who used a satellite phone in this region before give me some objections or suggestions? I would like to know which satellite phones and which system (Iridium, Thuraya, Inmarsat, ect.) you professionals would recommend for use in Western Africa.

Needs: phone and internet access in remote areas, fast setup and easy operation.

Any preferences?

Gruss,
Jäger

[Jaeger1980]

I would really appreciate any input.




...and please excuse my unperfected english. :rolleyes:

[resonant evil]

Iridium Mrola 9505a - I have used the phone, not in the area you are going though. First, if you don't have valid sim cards from Iridium, this you need. Only 50 bucks per phone. Monthly fees, minutes (at like 1.60 US$ a min, around 1.36 US$ prepaid the way to go), the data kit for internet. The fastest dial up internet service you can find. Then you should be set.


Google it! Go to the Iridium site. Make lots of phone calls, find someone who will let you test out there stuff. depends on how much you want to spend, how much you need to talk. It works. You already have the phones.


Thuraya - need phones! could buy or rent. I like the phone (hughes) more than the Iridium (motorola). Google it. Go to thuraya. As long as you stay north west (gold coast) you will be in their coverage area. I think Iridium may have them beat in data speed now with their new software though.

Tired now. bye

[Jaeger1980]

Of course I have already used Google, read the companies homepages, and called them. :lifter

We'll stick to Iridium. I ordered prepaid cards, Data Kits with software, some spare parts and batteries.

RE, thank you for your time and information.

Gruß,
Jäger

edit: damn typos

[resonant evil]

You have to tell us how good your set up works!:D

[etcheeves]

I've done some pretty extensive testing with the Iridiumm 9505a and the datakit. I work for a small "quasi-tactical" comms unit in Europe. Iridium proves the Direct Connect software which utilizes a type of compression to give you internet connect speeds up to 9.6K, yes I said K as in kilobytes. I have not had huge success with the 9.6k but think that is due to our government provided Iridium Service Provider. 2.4K is what you will connect at if you use a traditional dial-up ISP and skip Iridium's service. I will tell you from experience, 2.4k is painfully slow for websurfing, no matter how you slice it. Some people have had luck using a "mobile phone" browser page that is very limited in the "flashiness". It should work fine for pop3 email through outlook. We use Immarsat and iridium, immarsat obviously will give you better bandwidth if that is your goal, up to 64k with a storm terminal, but iridium is far easier to use, and more compact. The phone and datakit will easily fit in your laptop bag. As far as reception, iridium is the only sat phone, as in cellphone type that is truly global. Their SatGrid covers everywhere, even the oceans, if your planning to stay on the dirt, then that isn't an issue. We have personally used our iridiums in many parts of Africa and can assure you they work there, at least for voice. You can even get an iridium charger that is solar powered so you can truly be off the grid and not have to carry so many batteries.

Let me know if I can help anymore.

R/
ETCheeves

[cornelyj]

Last trip I took included a Sat. phone/ GPS (emergency) tracker and the only way it was a (monetary) possibility was to rent the phone and buy extra batteries. good stuff. This allowed me to get a really fancy $$$ phone and play with it for a month or so. You would be surprised how many outdoor and guide companies rent everything but the boots. Good thing to look into if uncle isn't footing the bill I guess.

Good luck and give us a report back of what you decided to employ and how it worked/sucked.