satellite phone

[Monty VM]

I would like to buy a sat phone and service plan. the purchase is mostly for safety, partially for convenience. I would prefer a phone with an annual allotment of minutes rather than monthly as I do not sail long distance every month. what phone and plans do you like?

 

[Bill Roosa]

Who are you going to call in an emergency?
How far from a USCG station will you be?

Sat phones are like handheld GPSes, they will leave you high and dry when you need them most due to not being weatherproof. If you are staying within range of the CG I'd recommend a weather proof and floatable hand held VHF.

 

[Hugh Burton]

Quick answer is: Where are you sailing? (Mexico?) Check the respective coverage maps on the websites of the Sat phone company's My experience in choice of systems 1. Iridium, 2. Inmarsat 3. way back is Globalstar.
Inmarsat is newer than the rest but appears to give similar coverage to Iridium.
Globalstar has had satellite issues in the past which may be resolved. To make up for that they were giving unlimited talk times and a satellite finder link so you could make you call when a Sat was overhead.

 

[sailaway78]

No experience

At all with a sat phone, but SPOT is now offering them. Might be worth checking out. Price seems right.

 

[zeehag]

spot is globalstar i think, isnt it??

san carlos is in a bad place for reception of cellular, i know that--as is all of golfo de california--i dont cruise there nor do any of my boat work there--i prefer mainland tropical mexico for cruising as well as repairing---environment is friendlier--not desert, but tropical instead, much prettier, and the folks rock...not too many gringos, thank goodness...and my telcel fone gets great reception here. everywhere.

 

[Monty VM]

route

I am in san carlos now. Moving to PV late October. Participating in the rally to el salvador in March. I want to be able to phone home if I am going to be days late, call a marina if I need help, call the airlines if I am going to miss my flight or call a buddy if I am not sure about a repair.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

Globalstar is now back up to what would be considered 100%. There may be some outage, but rare. I've had both Globalstar and Iridium and both went out of signal occasionally when at full service. They are certainly nice to have off shore and in remote areas when you want to get a message out and or want some information you don't have available onboard.