Sim Cards for Satellite phones

[Nuts]

Anyone use an irridium phone?
I'm having a bit of a struggle finding a SIM card that will work. Paid on a plan for years ($30 p/m +calls) and finally got around to canceling this service thinking (always dangerous) that the SIM from my iphone would work (my old prepaid wouldn't)... I got a micro sim holder and it fits ok but wont register.

Telstra were pretty unhelpful ( ) and with some searching i'm guessing it will need international roaming activated..?

The next pitfall in the cunning plan is that its a real drama to get the phone from the waterproof case and change the SIM/holder, I can see something breaking and soon (i did manage to pin them down to their warranty, apparently Apple will replace the iphone outside their (12mth) warranty if you whinge a lot and fork out around $275 so all wouldn't be lost).

Anyhow, perhaps another SIM on a $10 plan (which seems the cheapest?) is the way to go. I can't find anywhere a mention of prepaid options? Int roaming essential? Anyone using sat phone? Any suggestions?

(Just aside, as an emergency help device, I did notice that the older irridium phones are v cheap on ebay, another option for 2 way comms for the bush (cheap if the SIM thing doesnt cost the earth (and chat time is kept down)?)

[photohiker]

Anyhow, perhaps another SIM on a $10 plan (which seems the cheapest?) is the way to go. I can't find anywhere a mention of prepaid options? Int roaming essential? Anyone using sat phone? Any suggestions?

(Just aside, as an emergency help device, I did notice that the older irridium phones are v cheap on ebay, another option for 2 way comms for the bush (cheap if the SIM thing doesnt cost the earth (and chat time is kept down)?)

That's how I did it. Post paid sim on a $10 plan with international roaming. Prepaid WILL NOT work (tried that)

Dropped our $10 sim plan in Oct last year while doing a big phone re-organisation, otherwise, I'd call you on the satphone

I'll need to sort it again for winter, as we are planning a trip to the Dig tree and thereabouts, Innamincka, Coongie Lakes, etc.

Try enabling international roaming on your iPhone sim. I agree with your comment re swapping sims in an emergency and in the rain, and dealing with a micro sim adapter etc. Not the best idea. If you had 2 phones like we do, one could live in the satphone for emergencies and the other in a normal phone. Might try that, where'd you get your sim adapter?

Cheers,

[Nuts]

Thanks, that confirms things a bit further..
SiM adaptor was just a freebie from telstra shop. If you again just sign on to a cheap plan you would just get a full size sim card though? (assuming they are still made) or are you intending to use an existing phone micro sim/swapping from 2nd iphone? rather than getting a $10 plan? (your saying).
Interestingly (perhaps) even with the sims that haven't worked, emergency calling is still enabled.... (ie no sim/ no pay etc) Making a 000 call to test is the problem (i might have to try next 000 call we make.. emergency use from Sat phone may cost zip..) (i believe ive seen this described for standard mobile phones with no credit and outside the usual service range??..)

[photohiker]

We have an old SIM in one of those pre-emergent Nokias. The owner still uses it. (Troglodyte)

It's an amazing thing, you push buttons on the outside casing and it dials a number. Very quaint.

Cool, I hadn't heard about free 000. Maybe we don't need a new SIM after all, just leave the defunct and cancelled $10 one in there. haha.

[Miyata610]

I too use an old iridium phone. I carry it without a sim in and yes Telstra sat services assured me that emergency calls will work and will go to an oz operator. On my phone I have to dial 112.

I have also used it with my iPhone 4 sim with an adapter.

And yes I tried a prepaid sim with international roaming and it doesn't work.

[Nuts]

This may be of interest Phil (typing at the same time):

Troglodyte

Wow, well, what better way to spend a day.. here's some info that may save a few of those hours for someone as i couldn't find anything recent online, two visits to a Telstra shop and ending up standing ground at the business centre helped. A summary as this has cost a bit as well as time:

Telstra wont sell new Satphone other than on a plan ($30pm inc $10 calls), other companies and OS retailers will

As of late last year prepaid Telstra mobile SIM will work with an Irridium Sat phone, international roaming is automatically included on new services Unfortunately not straight forward as its a bit of a gamble on how old the SIM is that the retailer tries to sell you.. Still a great option for emergency use and not much out of pocket if it doesnt work. Not much fun running out of credit in a (almost) emergency though...

Post paid (billed) is available (min $10 p/m) with no contract for those who own a compatible phone (from some source).
Unfortunately this isn't grab and go either, you'll need to now have been a (good) customer for 6mths prior. Int roaming can be enabled/disabled online but once int roaming is enabled roaming bars will also need to be removed by telstra

Emergency numbers never require account credit on mobile services however, with no way to check and from what it's taken to get sorted I wouldn't like to rely on this however, something to keep in mind for anyone on prepaid mobile or sat services i suppose.

Those using older SIM with international roaming enabled may (or not) have the roaming disabled (without notice) in the future and the rules may change with it disabled (and needing to be re-abled (ie by telstra or online)) under certain circumstances (noone all that sure what these were)

Really the only viable 2-way system available and clunky in use but there are cheaper usage options than at first glance.

Hope this helps someone, subject to change at whim but a good starting point.

[wildlight]

I have an iridium sat phone, one that's about 4 years old... 9660 perhaps?

It is on a 35$ per month plan, which I have kept going, and made use of, since buying the phone.

It is important to turn the phone on at least once a month so it can "register" on the network, otherwise the registration of your sim may become idle and prevent your phone from talking to the network. One of the techs told me this when my phone wouldn't register one time. It hadn't been switched on for 3 months. All in all, they are a great unit. Your first 3 or 4 minutes of a call always seem to be the best- strange really- but the static starts and the dropouts begin after a few minutes.

It happens whether we are on the Larapinta or Overland track.

I have never regretted buying it or having it on what I call the "dollar a day- ready anytime" plan.

Battery life is not sensational- but not a disaster. About 8 or 10 hours standby time out of a charge- this would equate to perhaps an only an hour talk time..? These numbers won't be far off. We have two extra batteries. I'll probably buy one more before we go away for all of August.

It still works, albeit intermittently, under a canopy of trees. It makes use of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites, and a lot depends on where they are at the time of placing the call. It can be, that you are in a wide open area, and (rarely) not get signal for 15 mins.

Pivotel tell me that above 3000 meters above sea level, performance suffers, because of the path of the satellites... but here in Oz we're fine.

The unit is extremely tough- it has hit concrete a few times from a height.

Safe Steps

Wildlight

[rsser]

Canadian defence research evaluated Iridium and found that the av. connection duration was 4 mins. The prob. seems to be drop-out when calls are handed over (or not) to the next non-geo sync sat.

[ninjapuppet]

I used my iridium at 5000m-6000m with no problems. several phone calls 5-10 mins long with nil drop outs.

With the isatphone pro. Quite astonished with the battery life. i had 2 more spare batteries but didnt need them. only used 40% of my original battery over a 3 week trip, making calls every 2nd day or so.