rivonia
Well-Known Member
Hi me again. Has anyone got info on costs make etc on a Mobile Satelite phone. Pay as you go.
Satelite mobile phone
- Thread starter rivonia
- Start date
castlevar
Well-Known Member
Who are you
chrisgee
Well-Known Member
He`s Fidelis and he is asking for info on Satellite phones.
chrisgee
Well-Known Member
Hi Fidelis don`t use one myself but you could try www.satfone.co.uk who seem to supply most makes and tariffs.
DrBob
Well-Known Member
Be great if he filled in his personal details so we DO know who he is - like the majority of us do.
Too many trolls around this month. See previous thread.
Apologies for thread drift - back to sat phones
Dr Bob
Too many trolls around this month. See previous thread.
Apologies for thread drift - back to sat phones
Dr Bob
peterN
Active Member
Hi Fedilis,
I used an Iridium satellite phone on a circumnavigation a couple of years ago and it was superb. I needed it mainly for emails which I did using the ZAP email gateway and their software. This worked well, although you have to watch the ZAP costs as they charge per byte, (see www.zap-email.com ) The cost of the connection to the Iriduim system varies from $1 per minute of you pre-pay for about 5000 minutes to $2 for a moderate amount like 500 minutes, but tariffs may have changed since I used the system. I purchased the phone from ebay and sold it back on ebay after the trip. If you want to use it for emails (or surfing the web) you will need a data kit and, of course, a computer. I also purchased an external antenna so the the sytem could be installed at the chart table (you need to antenna to have a clear view of the sky). I went to TMI 2000 for my subcription to the Iridium system (see http://www.tmi2000.com/ )
Hope this helps. If you want any other info please send a PM
Cheers,
Peter
I used an Iridium satellite phone on a circumnavigation a couple of years ago and it was superb. I needed it mainly for emails which I did using the ZAP email gateway and their software. This worked well, although you have to watch the ZAP costs as they charge per byte, (see www.zap-email.com ) The cost of the connection to the Iriduim system varies from $1 per minute of you pre-pay for about 5000 minutes to $2 for a moderate amount like 500 minutes, but tariffs may have changed since I used the system. I purchased the phone from ebay and sold it back on ebay after the trip. If you want to use it for emails (or surfing the web) you will need a data kit and, of course, a computer. I also purchased an external antenna so the the sytem could be installed at the chart table (you need to antenna to have a clear view of the sky). I went to TMI 2000 for my subcription to the Iridium system (see http://www.tmi2000.com/ )
Hope this helps. If you want any other info please send a PM
Cheers,
Peter
mixmaster
Well-Known Member
Iridium is what suits 90% of people out there. Inmarsat is good but very expensive. Thuraya and Globalstar are cheapest but don't have global coverage. There are also problems with the Globalstar network currently. All 4 providers have decent web pages.
demonboy
Well-Known Member
Usual response to this kind of question: search the forums first.This question gets asked a lot.
rivonia
Well-Known Member
Many thanks to you all especialy Chrisgee and PeterN. I now have all the info that I need. There is a new SYM card out by GYM which seems to be a cheaper method.
MailASail
Well-Known Member
Hi, I run MailASail ( http://www.mailasail.com ) which is a small specialist consultancy dealing with comms for yachts.
I guess you already answered your own question if you are happy with the coverage of a cell phone. Basically there exist a class of SIM cards which arbitrage the cost of making *two* calls being cheaper than the cost that Vodafone, et al, charge for one call. So the basic idea of these sims is that all outgoing calls are barred, but as you try to make a call the operator notices your intention, calls you back and then calls the person you wanted to call and connects the two calls.
Simple idea and by implication you can also see some of the limitations. Obviously for one it will only be for voice calls, look elsewhere for cheap data. Additionally you can be a bit more limited on choice of tel numbers
The Sat phones are "inexpensive", but will likely never be cheaper than a local SIM in the country of your choice and perhaps never as cheap as these pseudo local sims.
Iridium for example charge around $1.50/min headline rate ( http://www.mailasail.com/Communication/IridiumAirtime ) and if you use some form of compression software (useful whether you use cell phone or satellite phone) then you would be looking at 10-20 large text emails per min (ie typical emails, ignoring large attachments)
http://www.mailasail.com/Main/ExpressMail
At risk of sounding like sour grapes, but be very careful about picking Zap. They charge approx $0.50/KB of data. Now consider that Iridium transmits at around 20KB/min, therefore they are charging you circa $10/min to use their system.
Now a bit of logic suggests that if the basic cost is $1.50/min then it is hard to see that you can ever save money by paying $10/min...
The short answer for comms afloat is always to pick a mix of solutions (in rough price order):
- Wifi
- internet cafe
- Cell phone (with local SIM)
- Satellite phones
The point of a satellite phone is more that it works everywhere (most of them) and is "reasonable" cost. You are expected to patch in other solutions as they are available and are lower cost (cell phone on roaming is often NOT cheaper!)
One interesting quirk for those who need *guaranteed* roaming data and can do it when "stationary" is an Inmarsat BGAN. It's kind of like 3G the way it's ought to work (ie reliable and everywhere) and is priced at around $7.50/MB (which was quite cheap a few months back...). It's clearly not priced for general web browsing, but for those who require guaranteed data everywhere (using wifi/cellphone where available of course) then it's fantastic
Happy Cruising
I guess you already answered your own question if you are happy with the coverage of a cell phone. Basically there exist a class of SIM cards which arbitrage the cost of making *two* calls being cheaper than the cost that Vodafone, et al, charge for one call. So the basic idea of these sims is that all outgoing calls are barred, but as you try to make a call the operator notices your intention, calls you back and then calls the person you wanted to call and connects the two calls.
Simple idea and by implication you can also see some of the limitations. Obviously for one it will only be for voice calls, look elsewhere for cheap data. Additionally you can be a bit more limited on choice of tel numbers
The Sat phones are "inexpensive", but will likely never be cheaper than a local SIM in the country of your choice and perhaps never as cheap as these pseudo local sims.
Iridium for example charge around $1.50/min headline rate ( http://www.mailasail.com/Communication/IridiumAirtime ) and if you use some form of compression software (useful whether you use cell phone or satellite phone) then you would be looking at 10-20 large text emails per min (ie typical emails, ignoring large attachments)
http://www.mailasail.com/Main/ExpressMail
At risk of sounding like sour grapes, but be very careful about picking Zap. They charge approx $0.50/KB of data. Now consider that Iridium transmits at around 20KB/min, therefore they are charging you circa $10/min to use their system.
Now a bit of logic suggests that if the basic cost is $1.50/min then it is hard to see that you can ever save money by paying $10/min...
The short answer for comms afloat is always to pick a mix of solutions (in rough price order):
- Wifi
- internet cafe
- Cell phone (with local SIM)
- Satellite phones
The point of a satellite phone is more that it works everywhere (most of them) and is "reasonable" cost. You are expected to patch in other solutions as they are available and are lower cost (cell phone on roaming is often NOT cheaper!)
One interesting quirk for those who need *guaranteed* roaming data and can do it when "stationary" is an Inmarsat BGAN. It's kind of like 3G the way it's ought to work (ie reliable and everywhere) and is priced at around $7.50/MB (which was quite cheap a few months back...). It's clearly not priced for general web browsing, but for those who require guaranteed data everywhere (using wifi/cellphone where available of course) then it's fantastic
Happy Cruising
rivonia
Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the info Ed it is all very usefull as at present I have not made any firm decisions.
emnick
Well-Known Member
Hi Ed,
Would you recommend fixed or mobile?
Would you recommend fixed or mobile?