Satellite phone vs SSB radio? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Mr. Sandman · 06-20-2013, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Sandy, thanks for the update. Please post back in a couple of months and give us your impressions then.

OK...Here goes...

Well I had made a few calls when I first got it and sent a few texts back and forth to friends and it seems to work but not as good as I thought it would and not nearly as slick as the reviews made it sound.

One of the key features is that it has a built in GPS and you can easily send your position in a text, email etc. The primary feature though is that the phone knows where it is relative to the communication sats and is able to exploit this info to get a clear(er) signal and really lock on the sat .

Well, my phone never could obtain a GPS fix. I have tried everything. All my other devices seemed to work OK but this didn't know where it was. It could not find any gps sat. Even 30 miles offshore with nothing around. It eventually timed out and was able to get some basic voice service but the voice quality was not great, very digitized. Texting was OK. IMO it was not working correctly.

I called up my sales guy and got the kind of help I really didn't want to deal with...questions like, did you extend the antenna? Is it on?
WTF?
Eventually I got to a tech guy and after some Q&A he said...send it back to us, it is not acting right, something is wrong. I sent it back and got this email:

"Your equipment has been sent to the factory for repair. The expected turnaround time is between 8 and 10 weeks. We will let you know when the equipment is ready to be returned."

I think the factory is in New Zealand.

In 10 weeks my season where I really need this thing is nearly over.

I need it this week!!

This rec will save you big money...you can thank me later:
If you buy a sat phone...BUY IRIDIUM, eat the costly plan, but avoid the consumer brands of isatphonepro (from inmarsat) and anything globalstar. Ignore all price reductions (sales) and promos from them no matter how attractive. I know that inmarsat is a big name in sat communications of all kind on high end yachts but this product and the service of it is not acceptable.

likwid · 06-20-2013, 04:15 PM

Isatphonepro worked great in the caribbean this winter. Guess our satellite cover sucks up here?

MakoMike · 06-21-2013, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

OK...Here goes...

Well I had made a few calls when I first got it and sent a few texts back and forth to friends and it seems to work but not as good as I thought it would and not nearly as slick as the reviews made it sound.

One of the key features is that it has a built in GPS and you can easily send your position in a text, email etc. The primary feature though is that the phone knows where it is relative to the communication sats and is able to exploit this info to get a clear(er) signal and really lock on the sat .

Well, my phone never could obtain a GPS fix. I have tried everything. All my other devices seemed to work OK but this didn't know where it was. It could not find any gps sat. Even 30 miles offshore with nothing around. It eventually timed out and was able to get some basic voice service but the voice quality was not great, very digitized. Texting was OK. IMO it was not working correctly.

I called up my sales guy and got the kind of help I really didn't want to deal with...questions like, did you extend the antenna? Is it on?
WTF?
Eventually I got to a tech guy and after some Q&A he said...send it back to us, it is not acting right, something is wrong. I sent it back and got this email:

"Your equipment has been sent to the factory for repair. The expected turnaround time is between 8 and 10 weeks. We will let you know when the equipment is ready to be returned."

I think the factory is in New Zealand.

In 10 weeks my season where I really need this thing is nearly over.

I need it this week!!

This rec will save you big money...you can thank me later:
If you buy a sat phone...BUY IRIDIUM, eat the costly plan, but avoid the consumer brands of isatphonepro (from inmarsat) and anything globalstar. Ignore all price reductions (sales) and promos from them no matter how attractive. I know that inmarsat is a big name in sat communications of all kind on high end yachts but this product and the service of it is not acceptable.

Thanks, that's what I was afraid of.