Satellite Phone Coverage

skipro3 wrote:
For my work I use sat phones. The Globalstar is so worthless that we junked them. The Iridium works fine. Globalstar failed to shield their electronics on their satellites from solar radiation and they were destroyed, unrepairable. The Iridium phones work good but there's a catch; to place a call, you hit the # sign and hold it until a + shows in the display. Then you can dial a phone # including the area code, etc. For someone to make a call to you, they have to call a special # that rings the earth station in Arizona I think. Once that phone answers, it will prompt you for the phone # of the Iridium sat phone you are trying to reach. Each Iridium phone has an 8 digit # that is not direct-dial, you must dial through the earth station's phone #. This takes time. It's not fast to place a call TO an Iridium sat phone. Once the call is connected, the sat phone users sounds to the landline user like he's drunk or something. The speech is slurred, delayed, stretched out or what ever makes a drunk sound drunk. Every time I make a sat phone call, first thing I tell the party I'm talking to is that I'm on a sat phone and that my voice might sound strange. If I don't, they question me about it. The coverage of the Iridium sat phone is very good. I can be in some pretty steep canyons and it still works. However if I'm under any kind of cover, even in a car, it won't work. Even a carport cover will block the signal. It is truly Line-of-Sight coverage.
BTW, we have our sat phone contracts at very reasonable costs; about $40 a month plus $1 per minute. When you consider the versatility of being almost anywhere on the planet and calling anywhere else in the world, it's pretty amazing and pretty affordable. The phones are not cheap however. I think we paid somewhere around $1200 for a phone with accessories and a Pelican Case and a solar charger for it.

Again, the Globalstar phones had too many times we could not get any bars to make a call and then calls would drop if longer than 2 or 3 minutes. Unacceptable in our line of work.

Are you using 1990 phones and information? You do have to dial a couple extra numbers to make a sat call but its just like any other phone, dial the number and be connected. Both Iridium and Globalstar are direct dial numbers, you will need international calling on a cell phone to dial a sat phone. Also voice quality isn't as bad as you stated, not even close. Depending on coverage calls do drop off sometimes. Most sat phones can be purchased with remote magnetic antennas that are mounted on the car roof and the thin cable is routed in a door to the phone for trouble free in car communication.

Muddydogs wrote:
Currently I have 60 sat phones in the field both Iridium and Globalstar services. We have very little problems getting out with the phones. The phones are used all over the Western US by field crews working in the woods. OP it sounds like both you and your husband might need a device since you are traveling to meet him?

I would also suggest you look into Delorme InReach units, these are satellite messengers that send text messages between units or text and emails. 2 units can also message between themselves. To text with an InReach can be cumbersome but the InReach will Bluetooth to a smartphone so you can text off your phone. InReach can also send canned messages so with a push of a button you could send a message that your on your way or a I need help message.

yes, inreach is another good option. the nice thing about inreach is that it allows two way conversations, unlike the globalstar spot service which is transmit only.

Currently I have 60 sat phones in the field both Iridium and Globalstar services. We have very little problems getting out with the phones. The phones are used all over the Western US by field crews working in the woods. OP it sounds like both you and your husband might need a device since you are traveling to meet him?

I would also suggest you look into Delorme InReach units, these are satellite messengers that send text messages between units or text and emails. 2 units can also message between themselves. To text with an InReach can be cumbersome but the InReach will Bluetooth to a smartphone so you can text off your phone. InReach can also send canned messages so with a push of a button you could send a message that your on your way or a I need help message.

If you want the ability to transmit a message virtually anywhere, anytime, consider a spot connect to use with your bluetooth cell phone. It is transmit text only, no recieve capability. Along with emergency rescue if needed. We use it quite a bit to let folks know where we are when out of cell range. person recieving any message also gets gps coordinates showing your location on the ground.

It uses half duplex LEOS and is part of Globalstar, but luckily it uses LEOS rather than GEOS satelites for far better coverage. Now if it was only full duplex to allow two way transmission.

Mbethrobi wrote:
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 consistent basis, and if you are/have used this your opinion. Thank you.

I have two friends I travel with that have tried globalstar. Better than cell but hardly close to guaranteeing coverage. About 1/2 the time we couldn't get coverage with globalstar. Globalstar uses geosyncrounous satelites. That means to get a signal you MUST have a clear view of the southern sky at a satelite that is stationary relative to you. anything in it's way and your hosed, just like with sat TV. canyons, trees etc. can be a big issue, and has been with them.

If your primarily in flatlands with few trees, like the dakotas, Kansas, Iowa etc. Globalstar is probably going to work just fine. If your in a heavily treed and hilly/canyon area, another story. That's were we most often are and where Globalstar really wasn't functional for us.

And the farther north the worse it gets.

They both switched to Irridium, more expensive, but irridium uses sat that circle the globe LEOS, low earth orbit. With them, you are pretty much asssured of getting at least 10 minutes of coverage every 20 minutes. sat's are basically moving over your area for 20 minutes at a time, and it will then hand you off to the next sat as it comes overhead. since you don't need to hit a stationary object over the equator, you have a much much wider coverage area. again, canyons etc. may not give you the full coverage. Don't recall a single time with irridium that we couldn't get coverage at least part of the time within a hour time period.

Irridium is harder to dial, globalstar gives you a conventional phone number. But I think there is a reason that currently you can get a globalstar phone for free if you sign a 1 year contract, and haven't seen such deals with irridium.

Either system requires a clear view of the sky. buildings etc. will hose the coverage. In fact, one of the worst places to try to use a sat phone is in the middle of downtown in a large city with skyscrapers.

Trees will affect irridium signals, but not neccesarily block them. And heavy rain/thunderstorms, etc will reduce sometimes even eliminate coverage.

GPS and Sat radio are RECEIVE only devices. Meaning; they do not transmit like a phone would. The transmit makes it imperative to an unobstructed view of the sky. No cover of any kind.

I know that GPS and SAT radio both work through the fiberglass roofs on RVs. Is anything different with a SAT phone? Was hoping to have this for emergency INBOUND calls while we are on the road.

For my work I use sat phones. The Globalstar is so worthless that we junked them. The Iridium works fine. Globalstar failed to shield their electronics on their satellites from solar radiation and they were destroyed, unrepairable. The Iridium phones work good but there's a catch; to place a call, you hit the # sign and hold it until a + shows in the display. Then you can dial a phone # including the area code, etc. For someone to make a call to you, they have to call a special # that rings the earth station in Arizona I think. Once that phone answers, it will prompt you for the phone # of the Iridium sat phone you are trying to reach. Each Iridium phone has an 8 digit # that is not direct-dial, you must dial through the earth station's phone #. This takes time. It's not fast to place a call TO an Iridium sat phone. Once the call is connected, the sat phone users sounds to the landline user like he's drunk or something. The speech is slurred, delayed, stretched out or what ever makes a drunk sound drunk. Every time I make a sat phone call, first thing I tell the party I'm talking to is that I'm on a sat phone and that my voice might sound strange. If I don't, they question me about it. The coverage of the Iridium sat phone is very good. I can be in some pretty steep canyons and it still works. However if I'm under any kind of cover, even in a car, it won't work. Even a carport cover will block the signal. It is truly Line-of-Sight coverage.
BTW, we have our sat phone contracts at very reasonable costs; about $40 a month plus $1 per minute. When you consider the versatility of being almost anywhere on the planet and calling anywhere else in the world, it's pretty amazing and pretty affordable. The phones are not cheap however. I think we paid somewhere around $1200 for a phone with accessories and a Pelican Case and a solar charger for it.

Again, the Globalstar phones had too many times we could not get any bars to make a call and then calls would drop if longer than 2 or 3 minutes. Unacceptable in our line of work.

I am told, but can not confirm, that there are a few, small areas, where they do not work, you will need to check with the company on those.

There is also one area where if you use it you might find yourself in a federal slammer.. You can check with the Navy on that one. It's their land.

Old topic but I will throw in my two bits worth. I have had a global star sat phone for 8 years. I live on the North Coast, Interior, area of BC. from about 2006 or so until last year GS service was horible. They had tech problems with a bunch of sats that they could not fix. Over the last two years they have put up a whole new constelation of new technology sats. The last of these was in Feb of this year. The last few sats will be going on line this summer. Starting last summer the sat availability has gone from several minutes an hour, to most of an hour. The bigger your sky, or lower your horizon, the better it works. Narrow valleys or canyons, you have to have a sat overhead. They work on line of sight. Where I use mine I had to use the sat schedual program or could never make a call. Now I just turn it on, if there is no sat, it will be there in a minute. Almost never drop a call. Cost is reasonable at $40 a month with 40 minutes free air. Right now they have a promo so 80 minutes free airtime. Where I live and play cell service is only about 10 km out of town. I carry the sat phone all the time for emergency use. It has more than paid for itself on a couple of ocasions.