Iridium satellite phones

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johnbobbie

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Is there seriously any difference in the ability of these phones (9500, 9505a, 9555) when it comes to actually communicating with the world? Smaller, internal aerial, battery life are all factors but I'm assuming that they all do the same job -which for us is the ability to pick up a phone and talk to someone on the other end of the world.

Anybody know more?

cheers

john
 
Don´t know for sure but don´t the later models have send text ability or even send short email ability? I have 9500 and being able to send txts offshore would be v nice.
 
Hi,
I have all of these phones and the big difference is the text / email capability. As you would expect the most recent 9555 does everything and is slightly more compact and sexy. The 9505A models do everything too. The later 9505's should, but we've had problems. The earlier ones only receive, they can't send. The 9500 is for voice only. Think I'm right. Hope it helps
 
Actually they are largely identical, the key differences are:

Iridium 9500 (flip front over the keypad)
- Can receive SMS messages, but not send them
- Tends to shatter if you drop it... (Don't)
- Very early ones couldn't do data, but 99% upgraded to latest spec
- Clunky powersupply which clips on the bottom of the phone like the datakit

Iridium 9505 - new shape, says "Motorola" on the face
- Can send/rcv SMS
- Still uses same battery and datakit as 9500
- Same clunky power adaptor

Iridium 9505a - says Iridium on the face
- They changed the power adaptor to be a small pin (that's it)
- Changed the battery so that the old one doesn't fit (why??!)
- Change the data connector so that the old one doesn't fit (old one black, new one looks identical, but in grey...)

Iridium 9555
- Slightly smaller
- Much thinner
- New circuitboard (consumes slightly MORE power)
- New ciruits to drive the user interface - allowing new features, eg large SMS messages introduced in latest firmware
- USB to serial adaptor builtin (means same setup as for 950X, but now you need new drivers which are less well tested and NOT Mac compatible...)
- New antenna is MUCH better (old antenna was nowhere near as good as the marine antenna, so marine antenna was an almost mandatory requirement - still highly recommended, but at least builtin antenna works outside now...)


So roughly speaking they are all identical. Each revision is fractionally better.

All have the same data speed and roughly the same setup steps for hooking up to the internet. Really not much to choose between them, but for sure the latest 9555 is the most desirable for the new smaller shape and MUCH improved antenna

Drop me a line offlist if you need more info?
 
Note to Rum Pirate - if you are having problems getting your Iridium hooked up for data then try our pretty comprehensive setup instructions

http://www.mailasail.com/Support

It's by far easiest if you pickup a trial account for our ExpressMail service and use our fully automated installer, but you have the videos on the site to walk you through everything and there are a bunch of manual setup instructions if you prefer to do it the hard way...

Good luck
 
johnbobbie said:
Is there seriously any difference in the ability of these phones (9500, 9505a, 9555) when it comes to actually communicating with the world? Smaller, internal aerial, battery life are all factors but I'm assuming that they all do the same job -which for us is the ability to pick up a phone and talk to someone on the other end of the world.

Anybody know more?

cheers

john
Click to expand...

the iridium 9505A (iridium on front) can send sms text to gsm mobiles. i have tested it with voda and o2 and i can text them from the sat phone.. however they cant reply back from their gsm handset. they would have to go to the iridium site and text me back from there for free
 
MailASail said:
Actually they are largely identical, the key differences are:

Iridium 9500 (flip front over the keypad)
- Can receive SMS messages, but not send them
- Tends to shatter if you drop it... (Don't)
- Very early ones couldn't do data, but 99% upgraded to latest spec
- Clunky powersupply which clips on the bottom of the phone like the datakit

Iridium 9505 - new shape, says "Motorola" on the face
- Can send/rcv SMS
- Still uses same battery and datakit as 9500
- Same clunky power adaptor

Iridium 9505a - says Iridium on the face
- They changed the power adaptor to be a small pin (that's it)
- Changed the battery so that the old one doesn't fit (why??!)
- Change the data connector so that the old one doesn't fit (old one black, new one looks identical, but in grey...)

Iridium 9555
- Slightly smaller
- Much thinner
- New circuitboard (consumes slightly MORE power)
- New ciruits to drive the user interface - allowing new features, eg large SMS messages introduced in latest firmware
- USB to serial adaptor builtin (means same setup as for 950X, but now you need new drivers which are less well tested and NOT Mac compatible...)
- New antenna is MUCH better (old antenna was nowhere near as good as the marine antenna, so marine antenna was an almost mandatory requirement - still highly recommended, but at least builtin antenna works outside now...)


So roughly speaking they are all identical. Each revision is fractionally better.

All have the same data speed and roughly the same setup steps for hooking up to the internet. Really not much to choose between them, but for sure the latest 9555 is the most desirable for the new smaller shape and MUCH improved antenna

Drop me a line offlist if you need more info?
Click to expand...
Excellent summary, I would only add that the 99% of 9500 should have Firmware version INC0607 or above. Check this by pressing *#91#. Regards, Andrew, www.cynotechsatellite.co.nz
 
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