Satellite-phone for emergency use

[BartW]

mobile Sat phones have become very affordable,
I believe that there are contracts available where you pay only when you use it,
would like to have one, for emmergency use, during long passages, ...
or a satellite internet modem might even be more interesting ?

anybody here experience with this ?

 

[Nigelpickin]

mobile Sat phones have become very affordable,
I believe that there are contracts available where you pay only when you use it,
would like to have one, for emmergency use, during long passages, ...
or a satellite internet modem might even be more interesting ?

anybody here experience with this ?

http://www.thuraya.com/SatSleeve

BART, I’ve had the Thuraya sat sleeve for two years but now have an iridium go. Both have low use sim options - from memory the sat sleeve is 20 bucks every 6 months and then you top up it you use it.
I only changed the iridium because we need world coverage and the Thuraya had Europe and Africa footprint.

I’d recommend it for telephone, sms and gps sending - it’s a really good piece of safety kit imho - it’s in a box in my garage if you’re interested in a used unit

The iridium is great, I’ve got a 100 bucks per month unlimited data plan and use that as our Plan A for all weather gribs to our phones - tablets and plotter. It’s limited to 2.8kbs but short email is effective, mobile web and SM are possible but you’d really need to be desperate to use it....sms and phone are very good. Also the unit is always on and will send a gps position once and hour to your preferred recipient, currently for me that Predict Wind so that when I check the weather the App knows what we are up to....
The iridium go will also be able to benefit from the higher speeds coming next year once the new satellite
network is live. You’d find once online for <€1000

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

http://www.thuraya.com/SatSleeve

BART, I’ve had the Thuraya sat sleeve for two years but now have an iridium go. Both have low use sim options - from memory the sat sleeve is 20 bucks every 6 months and then you top up it you use it.
I only changed the iridium because we need world coverage and the Thuraya had Europe and Africa footprint.

I’d recommend it for telephone, sms and gps sending - it’s a really good piece of safety kit imho - it’s in a box in my garage if you’re interested in a used unit

The iridium is great, I’ve got a 100 bucks per month unlimited data plan and use that as our Plan A for all weather gribs to our phones - tablets and plotter. It’s limited to 2.8kbs but short email is effective, mobile web and SM are possible but you’d really need to be desperate to use it....sms and phone are very good. Also the unit is always on and will send a gps position once and hour to your preferred recipient, currently for me that Predict Wind so that when I check the weather the App knows what we are up to....
The iridium go will also be able to benefit from the higher speeds coming next year once the new satellite
network is live. You’d find once online for <€1000

I bought the satsleeve on your recommendation - and iirc the airtime is indeed cheap but lasts longer than 6mo. I think if I was buying again I'd get an iridium, partly for global coverage, and partly for ease of use.

 

[BartW]

http://www.thuraya.com/SatSleeve

I’d recommend it for telephone, sms and gps sending - it’s a really good piece of safety kit imho - it’s in a box in my garage if you’re interested in a used unit

yes I might be interested, is the unit still working, and can the sim card be re-activated ?
is it easy to use ?

 

[BartW]

I bought the satsleeve on your recommendation - and iirc the airtime is indeed cheap but lasts longer than 6mo. I think if I was buying again I'd get an iridium, partly for global coverage, and partly for ease of use.

hi Jimmy,
do you mean that the satsleeve is more complicated to use ?

the only use I have for such a unit, is for emergency in the few occasions that we do long crossings,
I'll leave the unit onboard, and don't intend to travel further than europe with it ;-)

I had a Thuraya Light in mind for that purpose, any comments on that ?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

hi Jimmy,
do you mean that the satsleeve is more complicated to use ?

the only use I have for such a unit, is for emergency in the few occasions that we do long crossings,
I'll leave the unit onboard, and don't intend to travel further than europe with it ;-)

I had a Thuraya Light in mind for that purpose, any comments on that ?

I don't want to piss on anyone's chips here (apols Nigel) but for something that's for occasional emergency use, I find it a bit hard work to have to remember to charge it, then physically get your phone into it, then pair your phone to the sleeve, and then you can make your emergency call. Also, once you've got a sat phone, you tend to think you can cart it around all over world and use it - which you can't with Thuraya. In fairness I didn't anticipate this at all when I was thinking about buying it, so totally my own fault. When I get around to it I'll stick mine on ebay and buy an iridium instead.

I don't know anything specifically about the Thuraya Light - but just make sure you'll be happy with the coverage.

 

[Nigelpickin]

I don't want to piss on anyone's chips here (apols Nigel) but for something that's for occasional emergency use, I find it a bit hard work to have to remember to charge it, then physically get your phone into it, then pair your phone to the sleeve, and then you can make your emergency call. Also, once you've got a sat phone, you tend to think you can cart it around all over world and use it - which you can't with Thuraya. In fairness I didn't anticipate this at all when I was thinking about buying it, so totally my own fault. When I get around to it I'll stick mine on ebay and buy an iridium instead.

I don't know anything specifically about the Thuraya Light - but just make sure you'll be happy with the coverage.

No worries for me re wet chips Jimmy
I purchased for E Channel and Biscay crossing after falling unwell a few years ago; and for that purpose is perfect. We plug it i for anything offshore but don’t worry for coastal - it’s just part of the pre passage check list.

The geostatic European and African coverage is the killer, if you want to use it in the Ozarks, your knackered.

The iridium is a better proposition as it is world wide, has some better features for data but more expensive to purchase and run.

Both units require pairing to OS apps before use other than the basic sos emergency buttons and it’s a faff but again, we keep ours paired when offshore.

If You do get the iridium Go Jimmy, just be aware that it’s not a much smoother experience and the satellite pick up is slightly worse than the Thuraya on which we seem to get 5 bars everywhere....

 

[Fmicol]

Hell Barth,
hope every thing is ok ,please let me know if you found the right answer to your satellite phone for emergency use?(i'm lookink also for a solution)

mobile Sat phones have become very affordable,
I believe that there are contracts available where you pay only when you use it,
would like to have one, for emmergency use, during long passages, ...
or a satellite internet modem might even be more interesting ?

anybody here experience with this ?

 

[BartW]

Hello V,

I've purchased the 2nd hand Thuraya satsleeve from Nigelp, and i'm very pleased with it, (Thanks Nigel !)
we've tested the unit and it works, and I bought a spare simcard,
afaik this is perfectly suited for our useage,
hopefully we will never really need it, unless for some testing / fun.
I 'll report back after we have arrived hopefully in Sardegna

iirc, JimmyTB has a similar device that he doesn't use anymore ...

 

[QBhoy]

Mmm. I’ve never been convinced by sat phones. They simply don’t perform like they do in the movies.
Working on remote wind farms in the most remote parts of Scotland...we have always had them as an emergency. As a precaution we tested them every now and then with a call to the control office. They were temperamental to say the least.
More recently we found that using a mobile phone even with no apparent reception, will work to better effect. You may have noticed that when you have no reception your phone will say emergency calls only. Should you dial 999, 911 112 etc you will more than likely find that you will get through to the emergency services. Even a good way offshore. There is a maritime service system too.

Just my thoughts on it !