New ~ SPOT Satellite Phones

Almot wrote:
Don't know how old is this "update", but this store was so unhappy with Globalstar that stopped carrying it.

Globalstar service update:

"The Globalstar system has recently lost several satellites that has now affected the reliability of the service ... Please only consider Globalstar service for casual, non-urgent communications". (my bold fonts).

Pretty strong words.

None of them is perfect, and in the area that I'm interested in - Mexico and Central America - even the famous $$$ Iridium have some dropped calls. Inmarsat (aka Isatphone) have dropped calls too, and take longer to connect than Iridium, and, like any geostationary system (which includes Globalstar too), is sensitive to where you point the antenna. Not to bash any particular provider, just to note that none of them will guarantee the connection. Some are better, some are worse.

Yup, none are perfect by any means. There is a common misconception that a sat phone will guarantee you a phone connection. Far from the truth. Weather, obstructions, sat locations etc. can and do affect the service. So don't expect to rely on a sat phone to get you coverage in an emergency. For those you need a true emergency transponder.

A friend has a Iridium phone, travels a lot into places w/o cell coverage. He says it's not uncommon to have trouble or a long wait to get a connection. And there have been times when he cannot make or recieve calls.

If your only looking to be able to let someone know of your status/location etc. so they don't get worried, the spot communicator is an option. It allows sending SMS messages from your phone and the device. However, again it uses the Globalstar sat's so it may take a while to get a sat fix and send the message. I have one, cost/year is in my range. Sometimes messages are delivered in a few minutes, sometimes the next day. Sometimes I have had to move the device around to get it to hit the sat. So I don't expect it to be a true emergency contact method.