On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 22:38:14 GMT, "Richard" wrote:

I thought Iridium satelite phones covered the whole world now. Am I wrong?

Pole to pole.....The birds fly polar routes so cover the planet, or
most of it.


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 23:31:59 GMT, "Geoffrey W. Schultz"
wrote:

An SSB gets you daily nets where you can check in, get weather and
communicate with other cruisers. You can also get HF faxes, GRIB files, e-
mail, etc, etc. Emergency frequencies are monitored by various agencies.

A Sat phone allows you to make phone calls. Most other cruisers won't have
one or only use it for outgoing calls. Covergage can be spotty even in
areas where you're supposed to have coverage.

Most people don't realize INCOMING call on Iridium, just like Nextel
are FREE! You only pay $1.99 to call OUT. If the family calls you,
it's no charge. And, you can get a LOCAL phone number in a lot of
countries from places like Worldcell
http://www.worldcell.com/services/rentsatellite.aspx
They'll rent or sell you a phone and got some neat packages of
service. The boat can even have its own 800 number...(c;


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 23:31:59 GMT, "Geoffrey W. Schultz"
wrote:

An SSB gets you daily nets where you can check in, get weather and
communicate with other cruisers. You can also get HF faxes, GRIB files, e-
mail, etc, etc. Emergency frequencies are monitored by various agencies.

A Sat phone allows you to make phone calls. Most other cruisers won't have
one or only use it for outgoing calls. Covergage can be spotty even in
areas where you're supposed to have coverage.

Most people don't realize INCOMING call on Iridium, just like Nextel
are FREE! You only pay $1.99 to call OUT. If the family calls you,
it's no charge. And, you can get a LOCAL phone number in a lot of
countries from places like Worldcell
http://www.worldcell.com/services/rentsatellite.aspx
They'll rent or sell you a phone and got some neat packages of
service. The boat can even have its own 800 number...(c;


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

SSB. It's free to use. You can do email etc.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Andre Venter" wrote in message
...
Which is a better idea - ssb or satelite phone?

SSB. It's free to use. You can do email etc.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Andre Venter" wrote in message
...
Which is a better idea - ssb or satelite phone?

Met a fellow in the Bahamas last winter. He was furious with his Iridium
service. Very poor reliability. He had cruised from GB and was very
dissapointed with Iridium.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 22:38:14 GMT, "Richard" wrote:

I thought Iridium satelite phones covered the whole world now. Am I
wrong?

Pole to pole.....The birds fly polar routes so cover the planet, or
most of it.


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

Met a fellow in the Bahamas last winter. He was furious with his Iridium
service. Very poor reliability. He had cruised from GB and was very
dissapointed with Iridium.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 22:38:14 GMT, "Richard" wrote:

I thought Iridium satelite phones covered the whole world now. Am I
wrong?

Pole to pole.....The birds fly polar routes so cover the planet, or
most of it.


Larry W4CSC

NNNN

Which is a better idea - ssb or satelite phone?


It depends on who you want to talk to. If you want to talk to the friends that
you have met while cruising or the Coast Gaurd then SSB. If you want to call
home then you can use the satelite phone or ham. If you are going to use email
then ham or SSB are still good and they are cheaper so most cruisiers go the
cheaper route. When and if satelite phones become cheap then more cruisers
while use them.

Dick

Which is a better idea - ssb or satelite phone?


It depends on who you want to talk to. If you want to talk to the friends that
you have met while cruising or the Coast Gaurd then SSB. If you want to call
home then you can use the satelite phone or ham. If you are going to use email
then ham or SSB are still good and they are cheaper so most cruisiers go the
cheaper route. When and if satelite phones become cheap then more cruisers
while use them.

Dick

(Larry W4CSC) wrote in news:3fda5bba.84612137
@news.knology.net:

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 19:34:31 +0200, "Andre Venter"
wrote:

Which is a better idea - ssb or satelite phone?


It's
still $1.99 per minute to CALL OUT. INCOMING CALLS ARE NOT CHARGED!
Just set a schedule to call YOU from shore....

Where the heck did you get this idea from? I have Iridium and incoming
calls are something like $10.99 per minute and are billed to the callers
phone. I had to set up a special number which forwards to my sat phone and
I get billed at my normal rate of $1.50 per minute.

-- Geoff