New ~ SPOT Satellite Phones
Seem reasonably priced. Anyone have one? Couldn't get the link to work.
Forum Discussion
I looked at them. Price for a sat phone is good (for sat phones) , ease of use appears to be better than Iridium, has some nice features BUT from past experience with Sat phones, Globalstar is not the carrier to go with if you REALLY want to maximize your chances of coverage IMHO. They use geosynchronous satelites, located at the equator. What that means is good service if you are near the equator, degrades as you go north. Look at the coverage map, the also don't cover quite a few areas in the ocean if you happen to travel to islands. and canada/alaska gets iffy. And if you are out of site of a satelite, you won't get one if you don't move.
Iridium uses orbiting LEO satelites covering the entire globe. If you for some reason are out of site of one, another will come along in a short time as the orbit.
Friend had globalstar and switched to Iridium due to reception issues and is glad he did. But Iridium is more expensive and more combersome to dial to or from.
so... If you are looking at needing a sat phone in continental U.S. Spot has pretty decent coverage. If you are planning on going way north in canada/alaska, maybe not the best choice. And if you plan on traveling internationally, questionable IMHO.
they use the same sat's as the spot messenger etc. We did find that traveling in Europe there were areas the spot communicator/messenger did NOT get a signal.
My advice, do your research BEFORE jumping in, there are many options and carriers available for sat phones, see if you can find one that fits your needs, the annual price, even the spot is not inexpensive. And NO sat phone will insure a phone connection. you must have a clear line of site to the sat, just like sat TV. Canyons, trees, buildings, heavy rain all can kill the signal.
Good luck, let us know what you decide.
So, for now we are just staying with the spot communicator and spot connect. Will wait and see how the spot phone works out from others.
Iridium uses orbiting LEO satelites covering the entire globe. If you for some reason are out of site of one, another will come along in a short time as the orbit.
Friend had globalstar and switched to Iridium due to reception issues and is glad he did. But Iridium is more expensive and more combersome to dial to or from.
so... If you are looking at needing a sat phone in continental U.S. Spot has pretty decent coverage. If you are planning on going way north in canada/alaska, maybe not the best choice. And if you plan on traveling internationally, questionable IMHO.
they use the same sat's as the spot messenger etc. We did find that traveling in Europe there were areas the spot communicator/messenger did NOT get a signal.
My advice, do your research BEFORE jumping in, there are many options and carriers available for sat phones, see if you can find one that fits your needs, the annual price, even the spot is not inexpensive. And NO sat phone will insure a phone connection. you must have a clear line of site to the sat, just like sat TV. Canyons, trees, buildings, heavy rain all can kill the signal.
Good luck, let us know what you decide.
So, for now we are just staying with the spot communicator and spot connect. Will wait and see how the spot phone works out from others.
