John_Clarke
Well-Known Member
In February I asked the forum about satellite phone use on the West Coast of Scotland. See http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303579 The advice given was excellent. I was asked to post our experiences with the satellite phone on returning from the cruise.
We wanted to take a satellite phone with us so that our family would be able to contact us when we were in anchorages with no mobile phone reception. We had considered buying an Inmarsat phone (with a PAYG tariff which I believe they have since stopped offering); however, we decided against it because the aerial must be pointed in a south easterly direction with an elevation of about 20 degrees (towards the geostationary satellite over the equator) in order to send and receive. This would probably have been OK to make a call but not for receiving calls and emails when the boat is swinging at anchor and the phone is not being held. In the end we hired an Iridium phone as the aerial does not have to be pointed in any particular direction to receive emails or calls.
Global Telesat Communications charged £6 per day plus about £10 delivery. It cost us £25 to post the phone back at the end of the hire period (by Royal Mail Special Delivery Next Day insured service). It was very easy to use like a mobile phone. In the cabin, even in anchorages surrounded by mountains, it had reception most of the time or in under a minute the next satellite came over the horizon and service was restored. Satellite phones can send SMS messages to mobile phones but you cannot (in the UK) send an SMS to a satellite phone. Instead you can send emails to a satellite phone (this is free). To send an email or SMS from a satellite phone costs about 90p and calls are expensive!
In practice there were very few anchorages we went to that did not have O2 mobile reception. We also had a mobile on the Vodafone network which has even better coverage in Scotland. Hugh Foulis recommended a Manx PAYG SIM which in the UK will use any of the networks if it cannot pick up its preferred one. We took one of these with us but only needed it in one part of Loch Aline. The only place we did not have mobile reception on our cruise was in Loch Hourn beyond Eilean Rarsaidh. Had we gone out to Canna and on to the Outer Hebrides we may have used the satellite phone more. In conclusion, it gave us peace of mind but at a price.
We wanted to take a satellite phone with us so that our family would be able to contact us when we were in anchorages with no mobile phone reception. We had considered buying an Inmarsat phone (with a PAYG tariff which I believe they have since stopped offering); however, we decided against it because the aerial must be pointed in a south easterly direction with an elevation of about 20 degrees (towards the geostationary satellite over the equator) in order to send and receive. This would probably have been OK to make a call but not for receiving calls and emails when the boat is swinging at anchor and the phone is not being held. In the end we hired an Iridium phone as the aerial does not have to be pointed in any particular direction to receive emails or calls.
Global Telesat Communications charged £6 per day plus about £10 delivery. It cost us £25 to post the phone back at the end of the hire period (by Royal Mail Special Delivery Next Day insured service). It was very easy to use like a mobile phone. In the cabin, even in anchorages surrounded by mountains, it had reception most of the time or in under a minute the next satellite came over the horizon and service was restored. Satellite phones can send SMS messages to mobile phones but you cannot (in the UK) send an SMS to a satellite phone. Instead you can send emails to a satellite phone (this is free). To send an email or SMS from a satellite phone costs about 90p and calls are expensive!
In practice there were very few anchorages we went to that did not have O2 mobile reception. We also had a mobile on the Vodafone network which has even better coverage in Scotland. Hugh Foulis recommended a Manx PAYG SIM which in the UK will use any of the networks if it cannot pick up its preferred one. We took one of these with us but only needed it in one part of Loch Aline. The only place we did not have mobile reception on our cruise was in Loch Hourn beyond Eilean Rarsaidh. Had we gone out to Canna and on to the Outer Hebrides we may have used the satellite phone more. In conclusion, it gave us peace of mind but at a price.
