Satellite phones

[Dave Houston]

John Lucas recently asked a number of DOC staff about their experiences with satellite phones and he said that

The unanimous concensus was that these [Iridium] phones work very well and out-perform our current radios partilcuarly where comms is limited.  The cost is around $2100-2400 depending on how many are purchased.  The ongoing cost ranges from $25 to $50 a month depending on the plan and the cost per minute ranges from .40c to $1.50.  The charges other than the phone cost are in US dollars.  E-mail is a bit unreliable but texts just like your mobile phone.  The DoC provider is Wright Satelite Connections www.satconnections.co.nz

I have myself used a borrowed Inmarsat phone for a couple of subantarctic trips to supplement the SSB radio and send email.  While excellent for use from a base, it's briefcase size limits its ability to be used away from the hut.  Call costs were expensive (~US$6/min) and emails horribly slow, but it really saved our bacon when solar flares blocked out SSB for the best part of a couple of weeks and the ability to flick off a quick email to the home team was invaluable.

[smithhadl]

Yes thats still a fair point but there are now so many payment options check them out that include pre-pay, contract, and others.

The company Wrights also brought out a new pricing option last year for New Zealand and Australian users which greatly reduced the price of using sat gear in these areas, check it out, i think i saw this somewhere in the Dominion Post last year.

I guess if the initial cost of a satphone is too scary (which i dont disagree) then the rental options are worth the while.

Those 140 air lifted hunters in Fiordland last fortnight owe their lives to these rented sat phones, all pretty scary stuff really.

I guess if you dont venture out of cell coverage then considering the price they are not a cheap toy, but if you do, then they are a cheap life saver.

check them out here

Edit: Fixed Urls