denalipilot wrote:

S2D wrote:My Globalstar really sucked this last year. I heard they were sharing satellites in some areas and you'd get 8 min on, 8 min off .
Which made sense, cause there was no rhyme or reason for when the service worked.

I've used mine a few times the last month and it works flawlessly now. Must have got the right satellites up for our area.
Glad I didn't give upi and throw it away.

Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking? Or what latitude, at least? Outside Alaska I assume, (from the dusting)

Montana

Is anyone aware of a plan where you can pay as you go with the iridium phone, or a cheeaper monthly plan? I would love to have a sat. phone, but the monthly service is too much for me. I wouldn't care if it was $20/min when I need it. But I don't want to pay all the time and not use it.

Gary

shortfielder wrote:Is anyone aware of a plan where you can pay as you go with the iridium phone, or a cheeaper monthly plan? I would love to have a sat. phone, but the monthly service is too much for me. I wouldn't care if it was $20/min when I need it. But I don't want to pay all the time and not use it.

Gary

With Iridium you buy Sim cards. You have many options. Look here.

http://www.globalmarinenet.net/GMN%20St ... pdplanprod

Thankyou for that. I think $15/mo is probably fair enough.

Gary

I also made the mistake of switching from Iridium to Globalstar in October of '06. The phone was totally useless and when my renewal came up in Oct. '07 I went back to Iridium.

I use my satellite phone only for remote flying in Canada and Alaska and as a backup in Mexico. The best deal for me was a monthly fee of $35.95 and a per minute charge of $1.29.

Be careful of prepaying for cheap minutes, IF you don't use them within the prescribed time frame you lose them or you get to buy them again at a semi reduced rate. Ford

Just cancelled one Globalstar service plan today and arranged to trade the handset in for the $500 rebate on a second Iridium. Unfortunately they wouldn't take two Globalstars toward the cost of one Iridium. Seems Iridium is backing all these trade-in promotions. I've gotten two offers in the past week. Also learned today that as of May 1, Stratos is not activating any new Globalstar accounts.

I was always unclear how a land-based "gateway" in Wasilla was supposed to improve a satellite-based system. Got an education in that today: Globalstar calls go from handset to satellite to earth station to recipient. They can build an earthstation in Wasilla to allow more traffic, but it does nothing to address the fact that their satellite cluster is degrading in orbit as we speak. Also, for you Alaskans and northern Cannucks, it doesn't change the fact that GlobalStar satellites are low on our southern horizon.

With Iridium, calls can go from handset to satellite to Iridium. This is a big reason why the secret service and military use them. Land-based attacks will not impair an Iridium-to-Iridium connection. As for calls that you and I are making, they obviously enter the land system at some point, but I haven't learned yet how that happens exactly.

-DP

Bonanza Man

Yesterday I got in touch with the people that you referred me to. The $15/mo. plan was for incoming calls. They are about $45/mo. and a buck somethin a min. for use, or buy prepaid min. that expire.

Sofar, Ford's plan for $35/mo. is the cheapet I've seen, and still more than I want tospend. And buying minutes that expire can be a little pricey.

Right now I carry a hand held, and will have to hope that is good enough, until rates get more affordable.

Gary

shortfielder wrote:Bonanza Man

Yesterday I got in touch with the people that you referred me to. The $15/mo. plan was for incoming calls. They are about $45/mo. and a buck somethin a min. for use, or buy prepaid min. that expire.

Sofar, Ford's plan for $35/mo. is the cheapet I've seen, and still more than I want tospend. And buying minutes that expire can be a little pricey.

Right now I carry a hand held, and will have to hope that is good enough, until rates get more affordable.

Gary

It's an insurance policy. I only need the phone for the summer months so I like it that way. If you want it year round you'll have to do the monthly rate.

Don't bother with the Globalstar. I've had both up until last August. The Iridium works anywhere/anytime. Usually can sit inside by a window and make a call. I traded my Globalstar directly into Globalstar and they sold me the Iridium. They credited me $400 on the Iridium for the trade in, and credited my unused Globalstar minutes (about $500 worth) to my Iridium sim card. It took me about 4 months of haggling to get Globalstar to pay me back what they promised for the exchange, and finally after threatening them with legal action they came through. I would NOT trade the Globalstar back to Globalstar, go to a different company. Globalstar has horrible customer service. One of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. Even if they get their system repaired and offer me free service, I would not go back. With Iridium, I bought the 500 minutes/1 year sim card for $600. I use about 300 minutes during the year on average, and for me that was the most economical plan. If you cross the Canadian border, quite likely you will need to start submitting flight manifests from Canada before re-entering the US in the near future. To do so you will need a sat phone that always works or internet service through the sat phone. No way Globalstar will work for that. The Iridium phone costs about twice the Globalstar, and is worth every cent.

best rates and flexibility for Alaska and Canada Iridium minutes

http://www.tse-ak.com/departments/satel ... t=5&cat=52