Satellite Phone Rental for Namibia

The Accurate Reloading Forums

This topic can be found at:
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/9641086011

04 June 2009, 05:59

Texas Blue Devil

Satellite Phone Rental for Namibia

Later this month, I am taking my 10 year old son and my Father over to Namibia for our first African hunt. Today my wife told me that she wanted us to check in over other day or so during the hunt. So now I'm looking into a satellite phone rental for the trip.

I would appreciate any recommendations on rental companies and equipment.

Thanks!!!

04 June 2009, 06:37

Bryan Chick

try Andy Cool at Explorer Satellite Communications We have an Iridium and a BGAN from him. all work fine.

04 June 2009, 06:38

Tim Herald

I have used Rhodes Communications for IRIDIUM Sat phones the last 2 trips to Africa and have another reserved for my July trip to Namibia. They work great, and the IRIDIUM phones have been simple and reliable.

Good Hunting,

Tim Herald
Worldwide Trophy Adventures
tim@trophyadventures.com

LostHorizonsOutfitters.com
----------------------------
"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas"
Davy Crockett 1835
----------------------------

04 June 2009, 08:37

JohnCrighton

How far out are you going to be? Everywhere we went my PH had regular cell-phone coverage. You'd be surprised at how well-covered the country is.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt

04 June 2009, 08:43

Idaho Sharpshooter

I've never thought I was that important; and besides, getting away is the best part of the whole trip. My I-phone worked well in Zim.

Rich
Buff Killer

PS: who are you hunting with in Namibia?

04 June 2009, 09:03

Texas Blue Devil

We'll be hunting with Reveille. It is about 140 kilometers north of Windhoek. We are also booked for Getaway Kalahari Safaris for next summer.

The phone is not that important to me either, but it is important to my wife. She is more concerned with checking up on our son. He had some serious medical issues when he about 5 years old. She is a little protective with the boy. She has been pretty patient with all money we have been spending related to this trip. So if it will make her happy, and not an unreasonable expense, then why not?

04 June 2009, 09:39

Sevenxbjt

I agree, if the only stipulation to a father son safari is a call every few days to mama, just rent the phone. Like another thread said, normally trips like this cost you a new car or at least jewelry. You got away cheap.

04 June 2009, 09:43

TWL

TBD: Can't imagine your outfitters won't/don't have email. Won't this do? Most outfitters I know are happy to allow you use of their email systems, or have their staff send email on the clients behalf. Just a thought.

Here's hoping you and your son have a wonderful trip.

Best....Tom

04 June 2009, 17:03

wombat

I own an Iridium phone and cannot speak too highly of them.I have used it in the most remote spots in Africa and Australia with amazing results.The only time it let me down was in Zim trying to ring Buzz Charlton office when the fly in the ointment was that the Zim land lines where stuffed so no amount of satellites would connect me.

Australia
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

04 June 2009, 17:12

Rusty

Lat year there was a post about a company in Pearland Tx that rented and sold phones. I can't remember the name.

Rusty
We Band of Brothers!
DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member
"I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends."
----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836
"I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841
"for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”

The danger of civilization, of course, is that you will piss away your life on nonsense

04 June 2009, 18:13

GeoffM24

You will be shocked at how many place your phone will work in Namibia as long as it is a world phone.

Lets put it this way, when I was in the middle of nowhere Botswana last month every single person from the assistant skinner on up had a cell phone.

My Blackberry storm worked as well as anybody elses phone.

04 June 2009, 18:27

Wink

I used my BlackBerry last trip to Namibia with the added bonus that my office could harass me with inane e-mail while on vacation. Unless you've got some incredibly and vital need to be in touch with somebody who is saving your ass, don't take a telephone and tell everyone you are out of reach. That is what a real vacation is all about.

_________________________________

AR, where the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history become the nattering nabobs of negativisim.

04 June 2009, 19:53

MARK H. YOUNG

TBD

TWL had the best idea. Check with your hunt operator. He probably has e-mail and phone service. Don't lug a phone over there if your PH has access to all comms.

Mark

MARK H. YOUNG
MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES
7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110
Office 702-848-1693
Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED
E-mail markttc@msn.com
Website: myexclusiveadventures.com
Skype: markhyhunter
Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716

04 June 2009, 20:49

Dave Fulson

Andy Cool is, I agree, the man to call. We use his stuff and have had the best of luck with Explorer .

05 June 2009, 01:02

JPenn

Check with your PH regarding cell service, we were in a fairly remote area in 2007, standing on "cell phone rock", we still had service. My wife has a euro cell phone, with a London #, $50 from Mobal, charged per minute of use (no monthly, you own the unit), compatible with Namibia system. Also, check with your local cell provider, you may already have a unit that is compatible, or needs only a sim card upgrade. I took a sat phone, Iridium, worked fine, only reason I used it was because I paid for air time in advance, otherwise, cell phone would have been all we needed.

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI

05 June 2009, 03:56

Michael Robinson

Andy Cool got us a great deal on an Iridium satphone on our last safari in Tanzania. He is great to deal with - but why spend the money if you don't need to do so?

I agree that you should talk to your outfitter, and rent an Iridium satphone only if he tells you that you will have no cell service where you will be hunting.

Mike

Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer.

05 June 2009, 05:12

retreever

I paid Ph for the few calls made from camp to home... Most have sat phones and maybe you can arrange to buy an hour or two of time...

Mike

Michael Podwika... DRSS bigbores and hunting www.pvt.co.za " MAKE THE SHOT " 450#2 Famars

05 June 2009, 19:43

Woodmnctry

Andy Cool is without a doubt the man to get a rental from.
As for using email -- that is location dependent.
G

OMG!-- my bow is "pull-push feed" - how dreadfully embarrasing!!!!!

05 June 2009, 20:55

tendrams

Just buy one! You can pick up a Iridium 9505 or 9505a for relatively little these days since the 9555 came out. Then just buy prepaid minutes in whatever amount you want or need. Sat phones are a great insurance policy if you spend a lot of time traveling or in the bush!