Satellite Phone Coverage
Asking here in the General RV section hoping that some of you out there may have experience with Globalstar Satellite phones? I am looking to see if the coverage is available throughout the USA on a ...
Forum Discussion
I obviously came into this conversation late. The basic differances between Globalstar and Iridium service is their satelite locations. GS has them mainly around the equator - that's basically where the majority of world's population is. This means the further north, or south you go the worse the coverage. Basically when you get into Alaska, the GS satelites can be down below the horizon, espcially if there's a mountain between you at the time of your call. People in Fairbanks with a GS phone have to know when the their satelite will be available (direct line of site to it) and for how long they can make a call.
On the other hand, Iridium (the old Motorolla system) has complete coverage around the globe with their satelites (and therefore have all of the military and government contracts). If I remember right, they have about ten times as many satelites up as GS. And therefore their service is more expdensive. You'll make contact 98% of the time and you can do (slow) internet over them.
If anyone thinks of getting a sat phone, despite what the movies show, they don't operate like a cell phone. You can't use them without the antenna having a direct line of site to the satelites. This means they don't work inside of bomb shelter, a cave, tent, house, office, motorhome, etc. Contact through a window like on a house or car will work at times, but is very iffy. If you're going to be inside of something, you need to have up an external antenna so that it has line of site to the satelite.
Bill
On the other hand, Iridium (the old Motorolla system) has complete coverage around the globe with their satelites (and therefore have all of the military and government contracts). If I remember right, they have about ten times as many satelites up as GS. And therefore their service is more expdensive. You'll make contact 98% of the time and you can do (slow) internet over them.
If anyone thinks of getting a sat phone, despite what the movies show, they don't operate like a cell phone. You can't use them without the antenna having a direct line of site to the satelites. This means they don't work inside of bomb shelter, a cave, tent, house, office, motorhome, etc. Contact through a window like on a house or car will work at times, but is very iffy. If you're going to be inside of something, you need to have up an external antenna so that it has line of site to the satelite.
Bill
