Satelite Phones

[kraigWY]

Anybody use them.

Since I hunt mostly alone, and in remote areas of Wyoming, plus the fact I'm getting old, my wife insisted I get one. Plus in Wyoming any time you get out of town you don't have cell service.

I got the SPOT phone. It works well as a phone, plus I have a wire I can plug in to my computer and have internet service anywhere I can get satellites.

BUT

According to the directions the phone is suppose to receive Text messages. I can't figure out how to do it. Anyone have any ideas.

 

[BirdEyes]

Kraig,

Just go to Send FREE SMS You can send a message to the phone using its global phone number.

 

[kraigWY]

Thanks BirdEyes, that works.

 

[MilDot1960]

Anybody use them.

Since I hunt mostly alone, and in remote areas of Wyoming, plus the fact I'm getting old, my wife insisted I get one. Plus in Wyoming any time you get out of town you don't have cell service.

I got the SPOT phone. It works well as a phone, plus I have a wire I can plug in to my computer and have internet service anywhere I can get satellites.

BUT

According to the directions the phone is suppose to receive Text messages. I can't figure out how to do it. Anyone have any ideas.

That is so cool, I am having big troubles with my cell provider, they are driving me nuts, This does seem a great idea

John

 

[kraigWY]

Update:

I'm learning more about this gadget. I can sent text messages to the phone but not from the phone (It may be possible, but I haven't figured it out yet).

What I did find out is I got a cable that attaches the phone to the ubs port on my lap top. I can get internet service anywhere I can get satellites. It's part of the package.

In this area, if you get out of town you don't have cell or internet service, now I do. So maybe I can't text like on an I-phone, but I can chat on the 'puter.

I can take my ATV to never never land, and use the cig ligher outlet on the 4 Wheeler and keep the batteries charged and talk or use the computer.

If an emergency comes up, you dial 911 and the sat phone gives the 911 operator your location. Also you can add tracking. Meaning (who ever you choose) can keep track of you so if something happens, and you can't use the phone, the wife or who ever can find you via the phone.

This is a great set up for my wife driving around this remote state in the winter. If she slides off the road into a snow bank, she doesn't have to hike to find cell service or some remote ranch for help. She can call me and I can find her. Or we can call 911 if we come upon an accident on some deserted road.

I wished I'd have gone this round years ago. Would have been handy in some of my screw ups when I lived in Alaska.

 

[MilDot1960]

Update:

I'm learning more about this gadget. I can sent text messages to the phone but not from the phone (It may be possible, but I haven't figured it out yet).

What I did find out is I got a cable that attaches the phone to the ubs port on my lap top. I can get internet service anywhere I can get satellites. It's part of the package.

In this area, if you get out of town you don't have cell or internet service, now I do. So maybe I can't text like on an I-phone, but I can chat on the 'puter.

I can take my ATV to never never land, and use the cig ligher outlet on the 4 Wheeler and keep the batteries charged and talk or use the computer.

If an emergency comes up, you dial 911 and the sat phone gives the 911 operator your location. Also you can add tracking. Meaning (who ever you choose) can keep track of you so if something happens, and you can't use the phone, the wife or who ever can find you via the phone.

This is a great set up for my wife driving around this remote state in the winter. If she slides off the road into a snow bank, she doesn't have to hike to find cell service or some remote ranch for help. She can call me and I can find her. Or we can call 911 if we come upon an accident on some deserted road.

I wished I'd have gone this round years ago. Would have been handy in some of my screw ups when I lived in Alaska.

This is what I need me being the outdoor type, since june my cell provider started messing with the local cell towers and my mobile internet has gone from 7+meg down to 8kbps and my media Apps keep shutting down so thanks to you I have just found a place that sells them,

With my cell my contract is 2000 minates 5000 sms messages and unlimited data for £23.00 / $34.96 per month but I dont make many calls nower days and the signal just outside of town/city sometimes dies in the Azz,

thanks Kraig

John

 

[Flying Goose]

Kraig what kind of money are you spending for the plan and equipment, I looked into them a couple years ago and found the equipment to be too costly ($2000) if memory serves.

 

[varmint slayer]

Kraig what kind of money are you spending for the plan and equipment, I looked into them a couple years ago and found the equipment to be too costly ($2000) if memory serves.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=122

Not too bad a price really.

 

[kraigWY]

I paid less for my Sat phone then I did for my I-phone. The service cost is about the same. But if you want it just for emergencies it can be really cheap.

 

[Flying Goose]

wow that has really come down, I have a spot that I use during fire season just to check in with the wife at the end of each day (gives her the peace of mind) but this might be worth looking into a little more!

 

[BadDogPSD]

I'm planning on getting a SPOT phone for the same reasons...

 

[BirdEyes]

Update:

I'm learning more about this gadget. I can sent text messages to the phone but not from the phone (It may be possible, but I haven't figured it out yet).

You haven't missed anything. The phone can receive but not send text messages. Supposedly you can call the number that sent the message if it is available and showing. The web link to send text doesn't have a field for return number and I don't know of another way to send messages to the phone so I'm no sure how this feature gets used. Perhaps a future upgrade will allow direct SMS messages. One issue is incompatible message size with the Spot phone's 35 character limit as opposed to the normal 160 characters for SMS service.

Update:

Two way 35 character limited SMS messaging was discontinued in June, 2013 due to the 'cost' of supporting the service. Refer to http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/16/spot-global-phone-review/ for more details.

 

[Flying Goose]

Just checking in with the wife or do you fight fire?

I'm planning on getting a SPOT phone for the same reasons...

 

[Parker13]

Spot is really the way to go. I travel a lot and have found there are only a few locations worldwide that the Spot will not work. As far as in the states you will get 100% coverage as long as there is a satellite overhead. Right now the phones are $499.00 and the Unlimited Plan is $149.99. That is really reasonable.

 

[snipe10]

I think I'm getting one

 

[ZLBubba]

Thanks for this thread. I'm heading overseas soon and will try to get my company to pay for a Spot and the coverage plan. I'll give a full report if I'm able to make that happen. I have to use my computer a lot when I'm downrange so I'll heavily focus on the geo locating and computing capabilities. More to follow...

 

[Nuttshooter]

Working over here in Africa in the aviation field all we use are Iriduim phones. They have worked every were here. I don't know the cost as it part of the company service but we carry one in every plane even if the plane has a on board SAT connection.

These could be worth looking at too.

 

[ZLBubba]

I had Iridium in A-stan and it worked well. The price was pretty costly though. I don't think my model had internet capability though and that's a must-have for me these days. It's good to see that competition is driving prices down and capabilities up in the sat phone market.

 

[Nuttshooter]

The Iriduim I use here all have two way SMS and Internet capabilities. I am not sure what models they are though. The SPOT does not service half of Africa so it was not really a option for us.