hawksbill

When I'm on certain trips that involve driving through remote locations, or hiking in areas where there aren't a lot of other people, I like to take a satellite phone along for added safety and convenience.

In the past, I've rented Iridium phones from a place called Roadpost. The phones themselves have worked very well, and have convinced me that it's a great idea to take one along. However, both times when I rented from Roadpost, my credit card number was immediately stolen, and I had to go through an annoying process of canceling the fraudulent charges and getting a new credit card number. I've also had some trouble with their continuing to try to charge me additional money long after I had paid for the rental.

So basically, I'm looking for a different place that rents satellite phones. Does anyone have a recommendation? I might also be interested in just buying a phone, in order to avoid the hassle of renting a new one each trip. But my sense is that this would be far from economical, as I don't need one of these phones very often. And I'm also afraid that I'd end up stuck with a very expensive satellite phone that could become obsolete quickly when new technology emerges.

qwovadis

mobal.com good experience for me in the past.

tomfuller

If you just want someone to know where you are and that you are OK or that you need help, buy a SPOT. It has saved a few lives already and will certainly save many more. It uses GPS and satellite to transmit the exact position to whomever you choose to let know where you are. http://www.amazon.com/SPOT-Inc-SPOT-.../dp/B000YTZV74

hawksbill

Qwovadis, thanks for the recommendation. I'll check them out.

Tomfuller, thanks for pointing me to the SPOT device. I hadn't heard of it, and it's a lot less expensive than a sat phone. Plus it has the advantage of automatically transmitting your GPS coordinates when you push the "help" button, which could certainly be helpful if one is in serious trouble and can't easily operate some other GPS device. I may end up getting one of these, plus renting a sat phone for certain trips.

hawksbill

I'm resurrecting this old thread to provide some new information, and ask for some new help.

Per qwovadis' recommendation, I tried mobal.com. They supply the same Iridium phones as Roadpost did. The first time with Mobal, everything went just fine. The second time, they sent me a phone that didn't work. Foolishly, I didn't thoroughly test it until I was already away on my trip.

Therefore, I had the unfortunate opportunity to test out Mobal's customer service operation while out in the boonies. There were a lot of interminable waits on hold, and their "emergency weekend technical support" is kind of misnamed, because it's actually just an answering machine where you can leave a message, and get a callback many hours later. That didn't work out so well for me.

I've concluded that Mobal isn't going to be sufficiently reliable for me, and I'm now thinking that I'm going to need to just buy a satellite phone for myself. It appears to me that Iridium doesn't provide any direct technical support, and if you call for tech support, they just refer you back to your service provider. So now I'm looking for a reliable satellite phone vendor. Does anyone have any recommendations?

tomfuller

Did you check out the capabilites of the SPOT? Do you need to do anything but confirm to someone that you are alive and well?
If your contact has access to a computer they can see where you are and where you have been. If you need help from S&R the emergency button puts out a "911" with your location anywhere that the GPS signals are.

hawksbill

Yes, I did check out the SPOT, and it would probably be a good idea for me to get one, until I figure out this satellite phone thing. But I eventually want to be able to communicate information other than just transmitting location and sending a distress signal.

tomfuller

Glad that you have not had any hikes that required rescue since May. Since I hike and geocache in areas of Oregon with no cell service, I just ordered a SPOT for myself.
I will give a report on what it will do once I figure it out.
Stand by.

tomfuller

I got my new SPOT Wednesday afternoon. The device cost about $80 including shipping. You sign onto the findmespot website and customize your I'm OK and your I need help messages. Anytime you have internet access you could change the I'm OK message. You decide who you want to notify either by text message on their cellphone or email.I also had my position transmitted to my Facebook page. I checked the accuracy where I pushed the button twice. Both times it showed the position within 20 feet on the email I got within 20 minutes.
The basic service is $99.99 per year. There are some other cheaper features which could be handy if you ever did get billed for a rescue. I hope I never have to push the 911 button but it is nice to know the S&R people will know you need rescue and exactly where you are even if you are miles from the nearest place you can use the cellphone.
Next month I am told there will be a new Delorme PN60 GPSr that has SPOT built in. This new GPSr will also confirm that your message was received.
If anyone has questions about this technology, I will attempt to answer.

hawksbill

Tomfuller, thanks for your preliminary review. If you're still out there, may I ask a question about the SPOT? When you push the "I'm OK" button, how is the message transmitted? Is it sent via WiFi, wireless broadband, or via a satellite? I.e. do you need to have some kind of connectivity to use "I'm OK," or will it work anywhere? I would assume that the distress button works via satellite, and would work anywhere.

Putting the SPOT functionality right into an existing GPS device does seem like a great idea.

tomfuller

After the SPOT is on and exposed to the open sky for about 5 minutes, it has a "fix" from the GPS satellites. To get a precise location any GPS device including SPOT, has to get a signal from at least 4 GPS satellites.
When you push the I'm OK, help or 911 button for 2 seconds the unit attempts to send your message and location via a satellite (not the GPS satellite). The findme spot website sends the message to the email and cellphones you have chosen. The 911 message will be forwarded to Search and Rescue including the Coast Guard if you are offshore.
You can even have your position sent to your Facebook wall if you want everyone who looks at your page to know where your SPOT was at a specific time.
This works pretty well in places where you are miles from a cell signal. If you do use the 911 function, they will also attempt to notify your other contacts as well.

hawksbill

Thanks for clarifying. This does sound like quite a useful device. I guess maybe it uses the same satellites that satellite phones use, except of course that it would send far less information, so they can charge you much less for the service.

It would be nice if they could come up with a version that let you send SMS messages via satellite, instead of just whatever "I'm OK" message you uploaded when you last had internet service. I'd buy that immediately, and I'll bet a lot of other people would too.

tomfuller

This might be what you are looking for Delorme PN60w:
http://blog.delorme.com/2010/01/06/d...communication/
The limitations are in canyons where you can't get 4 GPS satellites or the communication satellite.

hawksbill

Hmm. It looks like the key Delorme device is called inReach, and costs $250. You can use it by itself, in which case it can only send the SOS message or pre-canned text messages, similar to SPOT. But you can also pair it wirelessly with either their PN60w device or an Android phone, in which case you can compose and send free-form text messages. The cost of the subscription is $10 per month.

http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELi...?section=10820

That looks like the device for me. Unfortunately, my phone is not an Android phone, and my hiking GPS device is not a PN60w. So I guess I may have to replace one of them if I went to send the free-form text messages.

hawksbill

BTW, InReach lets you receive text messages as well.