Has anybody used the Thuraya Satellite Phones successfully in Zimbabwe, and specifically the Zambezi Valley?

Thanks!

Bill,

According to their map, they do not cover this area.

Coverage

The company I rented mine from for Zim last year said iridium only... and they had both available.

FYI - it worked great.

Iridium works great in the Valley.

Thanks, I was hoping their coverage was greater then the map indicated, and that somebody might have practical experience. I used Iridium twice in the Zambezi, but their signal strength, duration of signal and quality of voice are not up to the level of the Thuraya (which is near cellular quality).

But then, it's better then no signal at all!

The inmarsat phones work pretty much anywhere - including the US - a little larger and heavier, but well worth the effort IMO.

I am very amazed Thuraya is covering Europe too.
I was most pleased in the middle of jungle in the CAR to have the opportunity to chat with my wife. A great accomplishment and easier than the iridiums at camp.

An old post but I'm looking for an up date on info on THURAYA and INMARSAT.
Regards,

I thought the phone Buzz had in Dande last year was a Thuraya??? My Iridium has worked wonderfully there every time.

Hi Tim, the boys at www.kambako.com use the THURAYA and I'm considering buying one at the moment but have been told to also look at the ISATPHONE PRO from INMARSAT.

Talking to Andy Cool at Explorer Satellite here in the US, he said they are having great luck with the ISATPHONE in Africa. The reason I didn't buy that one is because it doesn't work in Alaska and norther Canada, and I am there a good bit. The price is great on that phone...

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
I thought the phone Buzz had in Dande last year was a Thuraya??? My Iridium has worked wonderfully there every time.

I would not let that be the deciding factor for you. Seems like more often than not, Buzz ends up borrowing my Iridium phone to make calls. Maybe he is just trying to scam my minutes.

I own the new Iridium. It works great.

We used a Thuraya phone in the Luangua in 2009 and it worked, but not well. It seemed we had a lot of trouble getting and keeping a good signal. Last year in Tanz we took the new Iridium and it worked great.

In 2009 we had quite a bit of a problem with Thuraya in Tanzania - and even worse with Inmarsat.

Last year, however, Thuraya worked like a charm. We never had a single dropped call, and their sat modem worked great too. It has a wireless facility, so everyone was able to log in at their leasure wirelessly.