"Howard" wrote in message
ervers.com...
krj wrote:
Howard wrote:
Hi,
Due to a small snafu and large grief from wife I am not the proud owner
of a used Iridium phone. "OK,OK, I will never, ever sail away for
7-days without calling in. I promise, Honey, I promise!"
So, now I need to subscribe for a service. I will only need the service
intermittently. When sailing (Newfoundland and Nova Scotia), when at my
cabin in Pennsylvania, and when diving on an atoll in Belize.
Most months I will not use the service. When my wife is with me she
will use it to stay in touch with her office. (My purpose of goings is
to avoid my office.) I'm guessing we will use fewer than 100 minutes
per year.
In general I am looking at about $40/month service fee plus $1.50 or so
connection fee. Global Marine appears to be the best at $35/month and
$1.29/min. The connection fee is OK but the monthly is a killer.
Is this typical or is there some provider that can do better?
Many thanks,
Howard
Why not purchase a pre-paid card and use as needed with no monthly fee.
krj
The cards I saw were only good for a month or a year:
1. 50 min in a month or
2. 500 min in a year
They said that they could be "extended" but I presumed that there was a
renewal fee. No?
I've got a pre-paid card, and there is no fee to extend. The catch is that
you have to purchase 500 min (or more) at a time get the carry-over of the
unused minutes. If you use less than 500 min a year, you will build up a
big balance with a one-year lifetime (unless you continue to purchase a 500
min block every year). If you purchase less than 500 min, those won't
carry-over. A few years ago, you could get the rollover with fewer minutes
purchased, but now it seems to be 500 or more.
I got my phone and pre-paid minutes from "Outfitter Satellite" :
http://www.outfittersatellite.com/ -- they have been easy to deal with. I
recently signed up with Global Marine Networks, for their "XGate" email
service, which worked very well this summer between San Francisco and Hawaii
(there and back). When I am actually cruising the boat, I burn through
minutes fast enough that the roll-over hasn't been a problem. When I am at
home, though, I don't use it at all. I let my minutes expire, and had to
get a new phone number when I re-upped with a new card. I guess I will just
have to do more long-distance sailing!
-Paul