New ~ SPOT Satellite Phones

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

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.

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.

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.

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

How much were Cell Phones when they first came out?

How much is help worth in an emergency ?

Thanks all. Even tho I have a $100 rebate I think I will pass. I have had the SPOT messenger for about 4 years and it is good enough so far.

I have had Global star for about 6 years. Poor reception is a thing of the past. It had nothing to do with the location of the sats, it was a technical problem with the sats that could not be fixed from earth.
A whole new constelation of sats is now up and running. Service is now very good. I live in Northern BC and have used my phone as far North as Fort St John with no issues.
When reception was poor, a person could use a sat availability program on the globalstar website. It predicted sat availability at a given location for three days. When service was at it's worst, I would get a few minutes at best of sat time one to three times an hour. Now I turn the phone on and if at sat is not there it is in a few seconds and lasts as much as an hour.
Used phones can be picked up for as little as $200. Cheapest package in Canada is $39 a month with 40 free minutes. Which is what I have as it is for emergency use only.
Also, the orbits are not on the equater, they swing above and below the border. I just checked one at the link below and it's orbit is as far north as the Northern end of Japan and as far south as the southern tip of Africa. The sats orbit allows for service from 70Deg North to 70Deg South.

http://www.n2yo.com/satellites/?c=17

Correct. Geostationary orbit doesn't necessarily mean that the sat is on the equator.

And yet, I don't see any prepaid cards with low minutes, say, 30 or 60, valid for one year - except for Isatphone. How much the help is worth in emergency? This is not a "help", this is insurance. You pay it every year and maybe will only use once in a lifetime, except for when you intentionally use your minutes because they will soon expire anyway. How much you should pay for insurance? As little as possible, if this doesn't compromise the result.