With trip to New Zealand, Ethiopia, British Columbia and Mexico - anyone have experience with the better choice of sat phones for these areas?

I have 2 sat phones. One is an Iridium. The other is an Inmarsat


The Inmarsat worked great in Africa. However it would not work in Alaska last year. The Iridium worked great in Alaska.

I carried an Iriduim to NZ several years ago. As best I recall, it worked fine.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I have 2 sat phones. One is an Iridium. The other is an Inmarsat


The Inmarsat worked great in Africa. However it would not work in Alaska last year. The Iridium worked great in Alaska.

I carried an Iriduim to NZ several years ago. As best I recall, it worked fine.

My Iridium works fine in Africa and Alaska both.

My Iridium works fine in Africa, a few dropped calls but works fine. I have never been to the other locations

I've used my Iridium 9555 all over the world. No problems.

In Africa, I would choose my Inmarsat over the Iridium every single time.

Oddly (at least to me) my Iridium seems to work far better north of the Arctic Circle than it does in Africa.

Have Iridium have been to Africa Argentina
Russia Kazakhstan Alaska worked fine but had to find
a hole in the canopy in the rain forest in
south America Would like to take it to
Pakistan if we could get the dam Visa

I want my PH to have one in case someone gets bashed, but I don't want one.

My law firm wanted me to carry one of the firm's on last year's hunt in Tanzania. I refused.

I would be bugged by everything from clients wanting answers to inane questions that the other lawyers entrusted to the case are perfectly able to deal with, to my wife wanting to know how to unclog a drain. And none of them would recognize that the only time it is convenient to take calls (assuming I'm willing to skip my nap)is 1 to 3 p.m. and that's 6 to 8 a.m. Houston time. And there ain't much I can do about it from there.

No thanks. No sat phones. I'm on vacation.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I have 2 sat phones. One is an Iridium. The other is an Inmarsat


The Inmarsat worked great in Africa. However it would not work in Alaska last year. The Iridium worked great in Alaska.

I carried an Iriduim to NZ several years ago. As best I recall, it worked fine.

No matter which one you use, if you use it long enough you will get some problems.

Over the years, I have used phones from all the major players.

Iridium, Inmarsat, and Thuraya.

One year one will work like a charm, and the next year it will drive you up the wall.

Problems encountered with all three were dropped calls, and not being able to connect.

The worst part is this happens in the same areas when they worked without any problems.

I own a 9575 Iridium. Sometimes it will drop a call but it is usually because I am calling from an area either close to a building or even thick trees and lose line of sight on the satellite. From conversations with others, it seems like the other sat companies have this problem less often. That said, I believe Iridium is the ONLY sat company with 100% global coverage...including the poles. I would buy my 9575 again.

Does anyone have a recommendation on the best place to purchase one?

As some noted above, my experience is that the only true worldwide satphone is Iridium. I have had two in a row (both reconditioned and cheap) from Outfitter Satellite, altogether 10 years no problems. In fact my original one bought in 2002 still actually works but I dropped it and broke the screen. Yes certain phones work better in certain regions, but Iridium IMO is the only one that works everywhere, dropped calls happen on them all...

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:
Does anyone have a recommendation on the best place to purchase one?

I got both of mine from Explorer Satellite in Miami.

another alternative to consider

http://www.inreachdelorme.com/...t-info/inreachse.php