In article edPkd.147631$9b.146821@edtnps84, Overproof
wrote:

"Thom Stewart" wrote in message
...
Nutsy.

When was your last two Coastal cruises? To where?

You are right though, they are a great safety feature. Actually they get
a better CG response than the VHF.

A Sat Phone???? What the heck ?? Do you know how much a month it costs to
have a Sat Phone Activated ...... let's not even calc the rate per call!

Dunno what you guys pay per call but for us, INMARSAT is about AUD $8 a
minute, Iridium $2-3 a minute. Call quality is a lot better on
INMARSAT. We have a new Fleet 77 system as well but no idea on cost.

Personally I think the call costs are too cheap by at least an order of
magnitude. You can be peacefully stooging about halfway to Africa and
down around 64S and some turkey in the office wants to know something
so they just call up...... Worse than email, at least you can just
ignore that until you feel like replying (or get back to port,
whichever comes first). The *******s *know* you're on the ship
somewhere.

PDW