Satellite phone vs SSB radio?

[Mr. Sandman]

I know the CG will call you up on Sat phones. I know of a fellow used one on several occasionals with the USCG. I think they (the CG) prefer it actually. I would bet that the sat phone exceeds the published regs.

Globalstar had massive problems with satellites and offered fantastic deals for a while because everyone was buying iridium. Iridium phones are the standard. They are very solid. I think but I am not sure that globalstar has fixed a lot of their problems but there reputation was hurt. I am sure they are still offing deals to get you to switch. I was on a boat with a globalstar phone several times and it had no signal for hours at a time. Then when you did get a signal it dropped calls. Most canyon fishermen I know of who had them made the switch to iririum. Again I think they replaced a lot of their equipment but it was a loong time coming and they lost a lot of customers for good.

There are a few other choices. There is a new one called Inmarsat, I don't know anyone who has one but they have a lot of neat features.

If you want to rely on it in an emergency you really need reliability. So make sure that there will be no dropped calls.

The iridium phones that I have used work great, almost like talking on a land line. but the $/min is not exactly free. To bad vonage does not work offshore....Woooh hooo.... woo, woooh whooo...whooo woo


THT site has a few threads on this topic that are worth reading

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

I know the CG will call you up on Sat phones. I know of a fellow used one on several occasionals with the USCG. I think they (the CG) prefer it actually. I would bet that the sat phone exceeds the published regs.

Globalstar had massive problems with satellites and offered fantastic deals for a while because everyone was buying iridium. Iridium phones are the standard. They are very solid. I think but I am not sure that globalstar has fixed a lot of their problems but there reputation was hurt. I am sure they are still offing deals to get you to switch. I was on a boat with a globalstar phone several times and it had no signal for hours at a time. Then when you did get a signal it dropped calls. Most canyon fishermen I know of who had them made the switch to iririum. Again I think they replaced a lot of their equipment but it was a loong time coming and they lost a lot of customers for good.

There are a few other choices. There is a new one called Inmarsat, I don't know anyone who has one but they have a lot of neat features.

If you want to rely on it in an emergency you really need reliability. So make sure that there will be no dropped calls.

The iridium phones that I have used work great, almost like talking on a land line. but the $/min is not exactly free. To bad vonage does not work offshore....Woooh hooo.... woo, woooh whooo...whooo woo


THT site has a few threads on this topic that are worth reading

Inmarsat has been around for quite a while, just not in the lower end market.

You've probably seen these on yachts for the better part of 15 years now

[Mr. Sandman]

your right but their new low end portable phone is recent and has a very attractive price point, some fantastic features and decent plans.

I was seriously looking at it. I think one issue for me was that you had to have a clear line of sight with the horizon and I think you have to be outside when using it. Several people on THT have them and there was a comparison to some of the others. I can't recall but there were some issues. Frankly, as long as it works all the time, and has a reasonable plan or prepaid, then it is fine buy me.

Accessories for all these things (all brands) are expensive. For example if you want a charging cradle with a roof top antenna (so you don't have to stand outside in bad weather to us it) can be very costly. in some cases more than the phone itself

Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro - Deluxe Package

I found this interesting review of the inmarsat
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/04/..._inmarsat.html