Satellite Phone

[Chas]

I thought satellite phones were very expensive, but this one on eBay seems quite cheap , or is it a case of you get what you pay for?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Satellite-Phone-a ... 256032defd

 

[Gav Peter]

From my breif looksee into these things this morning Chas, you'd need to make sure which area that phone would operate in & that you could get a sim card easily for it...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Buying the phone is not neccesarily the expensive part so you need to check how much it will cost you to get air time on it. some are contract only and $$$, some are pre-pay but still quite $$$. It's a while since I researched them but Thuraya seem the most reasonably priced / flexible for casual usage providing they cover the areas you're likely to want to use the phone in.

 

[24Seven]

Thuraya was the choice of the people I met in Morocco with Sat Phones, there was even talk of an Orange Sim working in a Thuraya phone.

 

[Rob]

As Jon daid, you need to research the cost of getting a used sat phone up and runnig. I have generally found that cheap used phones are expensive to run. I am on Thuraya as well, seem pretty cheap to run as I have only spent 70 USD on it so far on yearly prepaid cost and credit.

Matt its unlikely that the Orange sim will work on anything other than GSM.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Some of the Thuraya sat phones, like yours Rob, are dual mode so yes you can put a GSM sim in and use it as a GSM phone. It's also possible to get a dual mode sim but last I checked Vodofone were the only provider offering them and they were quite expensive.

 

[Rob]

My Thuraya sim works on GSM as well, it does not switch well between the 2 automatically and there were no cost savings so I left it on satellite only.

 

[24Seven]

There is a good chance it does work with some contract sims, Tonytone iirc said it worked with his orange sim although I don't have any idea of costs using one this way.

A Google search

Thuraya.com

Q: Can I use my GSM SIM card in the Thuraya SO-2510 or SG-2520?

A: The Thuraya SG-2520 works either in GSM or Satellite mode.
The Thuraya SO-2510 can also be operated with a GSM SIM card in satellite roaming mode if there is a roaming agreement. Please check with your GSM SIM card provider for the latest roaming charges.

I've invested in a Thuraya Hughes 7100 and I'm very
pleased with it. No problems getting a satellite signal, half the size
of the R290 and also acts as a GPS receiver. Best of all, Thuraya have
a roaming agreement with all the main UK GSM networks so I can use any
prepaid O2, Vodafone, Orange or T-mobile SIM in it - no need to bother
with a complicated and expensive satellite contract. Just what I
needed for an emergency phone. Thanks.

From Orange Switzerland, I cannot find anything on Orange UK so far.

Orange extends its coverage
Orange members can take advantage of Thuraya satellite coverage when travelling to countries that do not provide a sufficient network coverage. All you need is your Orange SIM card and a Thuraya handset to make phone calls by satellite. The call charges will appear on your regular Orange invoice.

 

[24Seven]

It seems you can even use an O2 PAYG Sim with a Thuaya Phone, unless I'm confused

http://travelabroad.o2-uktech.com/coverage.php

and select the drop down for thuraya, then check out the rates for both contract and PAYG as see what you think?

If correct it could be a cheap way of keeping an emergency phone running.

 

[Rob]

now that is interesting, if true i will not be adding any more credit onto my Thuraya sim as they charge a fair bit every year just to keep the sim active.

 

[tonytone]

I own a thuraya satelite phone and it is true that there is a roaming agreement between thuraya and orange . However if you intend to use the phone it is much cheaper to use it on a thuraya payg card.

Topped mine up when I bought it with $160 twelve months ago and still have $80 on it which is good till june this year.

of that $160 I was gifted $60 for stacom messing me around with connection issues , turned out to be a bad sim. The other $100 was bought on auction from ebay US for £35 soa all in all pretty cheap to run .

Calls are around $0.70 per minute on the thuraya eco sim . Orange sim is around £2.10/min but good to have as a backup.

Pretty happy with it and can also send text message to thurayalocate.com and they will show your position to anyone keeping an eye on you as long as you give them access to your account with them.

hope this helps

Tony

 

[Orange Helpers]

Hi, I work for Orange and might be able to help.

I have spoken with our Roaming team, who have confirmed that an Orange UK Pay Monthly SIM card should work in a Thurya satellite handset, as previous posts have advised.

When being used in the above device, any calls will be charged at our Rest of World 2 calling zone rates. Further details on these charges can be found on our website at http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satell ... PersonalIR.

I hope this helps.

Darren from Orange Helpers
Twitter: @OrangeHelpers
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OrangeUK

 

[24Seven]

Hi, I work for Orange and might be able to help.

Hello Darren, thanks for the info.

Do you search the internet for questions about Orange then?, fantastic service if you do

 

[Rob]

Can we move the useful bits of this thread to another forum so it doesn't get deleted after 30 days? Thanks

 

[Gav Peter]

So let me get this right...

To get fully working satellite phone system, I can go get any Orange pay as you go deal from tescos or the likes & then pop the sim into a Thuraya hand unit & then I will have sat phone capability... Just like that...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

So let me get this right...

To get fully working satellite phone system, I can go get any Orange pay as you go deal from tescos or the likes & then pop the sim into a Thuraya hand unit & then I will have sat phone capability... Just like that...

Sounds like it, will be very expensive to use but for emergencies that's probably not going to be too much of a worry.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Just tried this out with my Virgin Mobile pay monthly sim from my GSM phone (one of their £10 a month, 300 mins & 300 txt included deals) and sure enough it works Looks like it just treats it as if you've gone roaming because I got a welcome txt - welcoming me to the United Arab Emirates and telling me outgoing calls are £1.70 a minute, incoming calls £1.25 per minute, txt 25p and mobile web £5 per MB. A test phone call to our home number rang out so seems to work. Not sure i'd be wanting to swap the sim back and forth if it was going to be used for more than emergency communications but it's another option to consider and makes the dual mode sat phones more interesting.

 

[Gav Peter]

Excellent... So it would stand that any SIM card might work, eg my contract sim with O2??

Do you mind me asking which handset you have Jon?

 

[24Seven]

O2 PAYG sim seems the cheapest prices so far.

To a fixed line UK number or O2 mobile (outside Western Europe) 99p/min
All calls from Western Europe to a UK number 35p/min
To other UK Mobile (from outside Western Europe) £1.49/min
Top-Up Free
International Directory Enquiries £1.49/min
Receiving a Call outside Western Europe 99p/min
Receiving a Call in Western Europe 14p/min
Sending a text from Western Europe to UK or Western Europe 10p
Sending a text from Western Europe to rest of the world 25p
Sending a text in the rest of the world 49p

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It might work Gav, you could ask O2 or try it out next time you're near a sat phone I just have a 'cheap' SO-2510 (cheap compared to an XT!), sat mode only, not water or dust proof The previous model was dual sat & GSM but I never tried that with a GSM sim to see how well it handled switching but Rob commented on that earlier in the thread and didn't seem impressed.