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

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

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?

"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

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:34:38 -0400, Howard wrote:


Is this typical or is there some provider that can do better?

I use Stratos for $35.25 (US) per month plus $1.50/min. The $35 is
with a bunch of Canadian taxes, but probably you would have the same
with a US source.

Stratos was good when I did a really dumb thing and wrecked the phone.
I got a free upgrade replacement. (I did buy the phone from them..)

Is this typical or is there some provider that can do better?

I use Stratos for $35.25 (US) per month plus $1.50/min. The $35 is
with a bunch of Canadian taxes, but probably you would have the same
with a US source.

Question: I see a lot of sites offering 500 minute pre-paid card at around
$68 or$1.36/minute. Do you also have to pay the monthly access fee? Most
of the web sites are clear on that and one or two say no monthly fee..

If you do have to pay the monthly fee can you disconnect it for a few months
without having to pay the $50 activation fee?

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 01:42:13 -0400, "Glenn Ashmore"
wrote:

If you do have to pay the monthly fee can you disconnect it for a few months
without having to pay the $50 activation fee?

Here's an excerpt from a note that appeared recently on the Trawlers
and Trawlering EMAIL list:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
A good source for both Iridium minutes and Iridium equipment is Andy
Cool at Explorer Satellite in Fort Lauderdale. I've used Andy since I
began using Iridium, and in my experience he's a straight-shooter and
knows the satellite communications business from a user standpoint as
well as anyone I've ever spoken with. He does what he says when he
says at the price he says, and his Iridium rates are the lowest I've
found--plus there are no extra charges for taxes, startup, SIM card,
or anything else. If you care to, you can contact him:

Andy Cool
Explorer Satellite Communications Inc.
1975 E. Sunrise Blvd. #414
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Tel. 954-763-8650

www.explorersatellite.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++