Satphone: budget solution?

[Rosie1963]

OK, I am off voyaging but family say they want to stay intouch (at all times).

I now need to venture the world of a Satphone; any recommendations for a budget solution?

 

[Toutvabien]

Buy a second hand iridium handset from ebay, get a prepaid sim and email account from mailasail, tie it up with a basic laptop and you are sorted for email and occasional voice.

Sell the handset when you get back and you should get most of your capital outlay back.

 

[Jeannius]

As Toutvabien says. I bought a Motorola 9500 Iridium phone way back in 2002 intending to use it on the ARC and then resell it. Paid around 200 GBP on ebay for the phone and then another 100 or so for the data kit so I could do email (data kit not needed on some later models). In the end I decided to keep it - just in case - which was fortunate as eight years later I needed it for the WARC.

It was still going strong albeit in need of a new battery when I sold it with the boat earlier this year!

 

[temptress]

Buy a second hand iridium handset from ebay, get a prepaid sim and email account from mailasail, tie it up with a basic laptop and you are sorted for email and occasional voice.

Sell the handset when you get back and you should get most of your capital outlay back.

This is what we have. we use the Iridum for weathr forecast offshore an dkep it switched on for family to call in to us (they pay the call costs). then get a local SIM card wherever we end up.