Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Looking for advice about a satellite phone.

My wife just won't be happy until I get one. Any sugestions? It's gotta be able to reach the world from way back lost in the wood. Thank you.

I have rented sat phones from www.mobal.com and from satelliteoutfitters.com (http://www.satellitephonestore.com/iridium/iridium-satellite-phone-rental.php)
Both have been fair and easy to deal with. This beats buying a phone and paying the subscription fees.
The problem is in deep canyons you may not be able to get the satellite line of sight, thereby no reception. You have to plan your calls when you have a good horizon.

I have rented multiple times from

http://www.satellitephonestore.com/

You get to choose a service provider and a phone. Of the providers, Iridium is faster. Of the phones, the smaller ones may not always be available and I have also used the standard size one.

I once also ordered a solar recharger panel but there is enough talk time with just the battery and spare battery. After all, you will hopefully NOT be chatting - just calling to arrange pickup or calling for help (also hopefully not)

Don't buy now. This is just around the corner. No details on price or rates, if you do find out, please report here.

There's a bunch of gizmos coming on the market in the next few months. The Terrastar looks to be pretty good. It's windows based so you can run about everything on it like a number of GPS mapping programs. I've been watching their web site, though, and there's been no updates which seems strange if they're claiming a 1st quarter release.

However, SPOT and Delorme are about to come out with a texting capable locator. I've heard it'll initially have text-send capability, followed a few months later by receive. Other text locator beacons are also supposedly to appear in the next couple of months.

Which is all to say that unless you need it soon, I'd wait until June or so to see what's out there. If you rent or buy a current model Sat phone, you'd want an Iridium based one for the Sierra. Global Star doesn't seem to work well, as of last summer anyway.

George

Sshhhh! Please do not tell my wife about sat phones. I always have to tell her "Honey, sorry there's no cell service where we are going" and give her the itinerary and check in times, etc. It is a really legit excuse to turn the 'ol electronic ball 'n chain off and enjoy the peace and solitude. Maybe for the big mountains (someday ) but not for the Sierra adventures.

Thanks for all the great intel. Ain't tech grand? I can live with whatever gets her to let her doddering old fool head back out to the boondocks and the trout. It will be like my regular cell phone; I don't have to turn it on, but as long as I've got it, she's cool.
As an aside, if you haven't heard of the "Iridium flash", look it up before the next time you head out to where you can still actually see stars. Thanks again.