satellite mobile phones

[Chilihost]

I am looking around for a good satellite mobile phone plan. I believe I will be needing an Iridium Motorola 9505 phone. So far I have only found infosat.com (a Canadian company!) that offers an ongoing service plan on this type of phone.

Does anyone know of any other satellite mobile phone service providers? I am sure there must be some in the USA??? Anyone use a satellite mobile phone here?

cheers,
Luke

[JustMe]

Greetings:

Wow. What exactly do you need one of these for? The service plans just like the phones are not cheap at ALL.

I know a couple of guys that mountain climb, and I scuba dive, and if we're ever somewhere a cellphone isn't an option, we rent a satphone for a week or whatever. That makes it cost effective, because you're paying for it only when you need it.

However, I don't actually know of anyone that's on a regular service plan with them.

[Lee]

Hmm..

I recall reading something on the Verizon Wireless site about satellite connectivity a few months ago, you might want to try there also Luke

Regards,

Lee

[jIgG]

Globalstar.com but I think they're a US only provider. Irridium would probably be the best place to go to

I actually nearly bought a phone when I first came to the states cause I kept using the landlines and raking in $500/month bills and my parents had to stay up late to call me, but those phones were so ugly and bulky and were like $1000 a piece

And it's not that expensive to call actually. $1.90/minute to bulgaria I think. About what it costs me to dial from a cell phone

I used to pay $1+ a minute calling home, AT&T started calling me and begging meto get on a plan

[Chilihost]

Thanks guys, I checked verizonwireless but they won't work for me. I also checked globalstar.com, they look very promising, the qualcomm phone is way cheaper than the iridium motorola ($650 vs $1400) but the monthly plan is a bit more ($55/mo vs $30). I am contacting them both directly to get further info.

JustMe, I know they are expensive but for my specific needs there seems to be no other option.

cheers,
Luke

[AusCoding Allan]

Hi Luke,

Check out www.globalstar.com.au - they have some international roaming agreements too. Don't know what your specific requirements are though! Globalstar is owned by Vodafone

Allan

[Chilihost]

Thanks Allan, I checked telstra's site but did not even think to try the au site for globalstar.

cheers,
Luke