New ~ SPOT Satellite Phones

How much is help worth in an emergency ?

How much were Cell Phones when they first came out?

Yes, $400 a year sucks, if used for emergencies only. Isatphone still have good deals for such a scenario, but you have to shop around:
Here is a 1-year prepay cards from $85, or $2.40 a minute:
http://www.satphonestore.com/airtime/isatphonepro-airtime.html

Almot wrote:
Do you own research.

3 most often used providers are Iridium, Isatphone and Globalstar. Iridium is the most expensive - usually, both handsets and plans. Isatphone - a little cheaper, $650 for handset.

Isatphone and Globalstar use geostationary satellites, so if there is a coverage in your area, the satellite is always there. If there is a poor coverage due to mountains, for example - then it is always poor in this location.

Most common complaint on Istaphone is - it may take too long to lock on satellite, up to a few minutes, and there is a "delay" in receiving - they hear you and respond a few seconds after you've said something.

Iridium has "moving" satellites, they come and go on the horizon, so there is no "bad" location, unless you're deep under ground. At any given moment there "should be" at least one of them in view, but in reality you may have intermittent signal at times.

All of them have raised the prepay rates recently - you can't get 60 minutes prepay card valid for 2 years like in the past, to use it in occasional emergency.

excellent summary and sums up my research as well. One other issue with Globalstar in Inmarsat is the GEOS sat being on the equator mean no coverage in the far north/south. I was looking at Iridium prepaid, problem was best deal I could find was for 200 minutes/year and $400. A friend, similar needs to mine says he only really needs and uses about 20 minutes/year on his Iridium phone. I figured about the same. So the 20 minutes needed end up cost about $20/minute!

So I stuck with a good 3W cell phone amp and yagi antenna and my spot connect to send messages if needed for the few times/year we end up out of cell range. A good 3W cell amp and yagi antenna will set you back about $400 with no ongoing costs.

Do you own research.

3 most often used providers are Iridium, Isatphone and Globalstar. Iridium is the most expensive - usually, both handsets and plans. Isatphone - a little cheaper, $650 for handset.

Isatphone and Globalstar use geostationary satellites, so if there is a coverage in your area, the satellite is always there. If there is a poor coverage due to mountains, for example - then it is always poor in this location.

Most common complaint on Istaphone is - it may take too long to lock on satellite, up to a few minutes, and there is a "delay" in receiving - they hear you and respond a few seconds after you've said something.

Iridium has "moving" satellites, they come and go on the horizon, so there is no "bad" location, unless you're deep under ground. At any given moment there "should be" at least one of them in view, but in reality you may have intermittent signal at times.

All of them have raised the prepay rates recently - you can't get 60 minutes prepay card valid for 2 years like in the past, to use it in occasional emergency.

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.

Here is a link to more info on them SPOT Phone Fred