Some of the satellite phones are larger than the mobile phones seen today and they are also heavier. It is more expensive to buy compared to your mobile phone. In case you find yourself in a situation where you require the guarantee of connectivity, where other alternatives do not exist or are scarce, a satellite phone becomes an invaluable means to meet your general communication requirements and possibly also a life jacket. In such cases, you can consider renting a satellite phone, which is affordable and becomes a valuable and essential asset on your trip to the middle of nowhere.
A satellite phone needs the open sky to work. It cannot be used from inside a building or in places where the sky is not visible. It is the antenna for a satellite phone that must have a view of the clear sky above for the phone to work. This would mean that such phones won’t work indoors unless you’re next to a window with a view of the clear sky. Not only that, the window should face in the direction the satellite in question is currently located, if the satellite is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. There is the other type, which is called a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite, it remains in a steady state relative to the movement of the Earth. While the LEO satellite orbits the Earth at a relatively low altitude, a few hundred miles above Earth, GEO satellites are placed between 22,000 and 32,000 miles above Earth, where they remain in the same position on the Earth’s surface. all the time.
If you are on a ship, you may need to go up on deck to ensure you have that open space for reliable operation of your satellite phone. If you’re in a car, I’d put that external antenna that comes with your phone on the roof of the car for reliable connectivity. But keep in mind that you may have difficulty with dropped calls in urban areas due to high-rise buildings. If you are outside but in the middle of a forest, trees may block the satellite’s line of sight and your calls may be lost or dropped.
GEO satellites, being positioned much higher than LEO satellites, cover more of the earth, they can see a larger area. On the other hand, LEOs would need a constellation of satellites to transmit the communication information from one satellite to another, so that it reaches the desired destination. The LEO satellite orbits the Earth once every 90 to 100 minutes and this is the reason why the round trip time for transmission is minimal. Also, being at a lower altitude, about 600 miles above Earth, the power required to transmit signals from Earth is much lower compared to GEO satellites. Satellite phones, served by LEO satellites, require a shorter antenna, while those intended for GEOs are quite larger to accommodate the power required to transmit signals to the satellite in question. The downside of LEO satellites is that they need to operate in a fleet as they orbit the Earth at higher speeds, timed so that when one satellite moves out of a certain position, the next one takes over.
There are several companies that offer satellite phones for rent: Iridium, Globalstar, Inmarsat and Thuraya.
The Iridium space sector is made up of a network of 66 satellites in orbit at a distance of about 500 miles above Earth. These satellites are Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and function as a constellation of 66 satellites. Iridium satellites cover the Earth’s surface with narrow beams that provide a clearly established link, causing no transmission delay. Iridium phones are small and light, have a small antenna and have the function of connecting you all over the world.
Iridium gives you the flexibility to raise or lower your Iridium 9505A or 9505 portable phone from your vehicle or vessel. If you have a docking station along with it, you’ll have an RJ-11 port to connect your conventional cordless and analog phones. The Iridium phone has a sophisticated filter that removes most of the noise that is typically present on the Iridium network.
As soon as your Iridium phone is activated, the nearest satellite will detect your phone and determine if the phone belongs to that group of satellites and will also check the registration and validity of your user account. The satellite also determines the position of your phone. When you make a call, your phone communicates directly with the nearest satellite. This is then transferred from one satellite to another, until it reaches the satellite in question, which will then relay the information to the desired ground station. Your Iridium phone connects you to a fixed telephony infrastructure anywhere in the world.
Features of your Iridium service include:
- Voice, fax, email and data communication from and to any part of the world.
- A roaming phone that you can take with you wherever you want.
- One phone one number wherever you go.
- Fast connectivity.
- One invoice for your entire account, in one currency.
- You can have options of postpaid or prepaid connections.
- Affordable calling rates with a fixed basic rate to call PSTN lines.
- Incoming calls are free.
- Extremely easy to use.
- It provides a standard data rate of 2.4 kbps, and you have the option of providing 10 kbps via Internet Direct data service.
The average price offered for an Iridium rental phone would be around $9 per day, with $6 per day loss and theft protection insurance with a $400 deductible. Outgoing call charges would be in the region of $1.99 per minute, with voicemail recovery at $1.50 per minute. Calls to other Iridium phones can cost around $1.50 per minute and calls to Inmarsat satellite phones are $10 per minute.
Globalstar first entered service phase-in in 1999. Its commercial services were introduced in three phases: so-called “user-friendly” service trials in October 1999, the introduction of a preliminary service to a handful of users in November 1999 and the full commercial introduction of its services in North America in February 2000.
With the introduction of Globalstar, the entire communication landscape changed. The advent of satellite telephony brought with it the era where communication became possible even from the 50% of the world area that has little or no telecommunication facilities.
Business houses, governments, and even recreational users now had the ability to communicate no matter where they were, whether they were traveling in regions where infrastructures like landlines and cellular coverage are not available. The satellite phone proved its clear advantage.
Globalstar’s services began to find their way into many areas of the industry and these include:
- Companies in the business of natural resources, specifically oil and gas, mining, and forestry companies
- Maritime industry, fishing boats and recreational boaters
- Transport, such as railways and trucks.
- Mobile phone users looking to extend the reach of their current service
- Various federal and provincial government agencies
- Leisure businesses in remote areas and recreation enthusiasts, who fish, hunt, snowmobile, etc.
- Recreational vehicles, cruise ships, etc.
- Global business travelers traveling to destinations where local phone service is unreliable or expensive
Globalstar’s iPhones, which is the mobile unit, the GSP-1600, retails for around $750, making it the most competitive device on the market today. Renting a GSP-1600 cell phone would cost you approximately $40 per week, having the following options and accessories:
- Voicemail $15.00/rental.
- Internet/email access with Data Kit (serial cable for PC and software) $25.00/rental.
- 12 volt DC cigarette lighter adapter cord $10.00/rental.
- Leather case $8.00/rental.
When it comes to call rates, Globalstar offers:
- Local Area (US) – $1.59/minute.
- Roaming in Canada – $1.59/minute.
- International Roaming/Long Distance – $3.49/minute.
- 19 Character Text Messaging – Free.
Prices above are all average figures, subject to change.
Thuraya is a regional satellite service provider primarily serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The service focuses on a single geostationary communications satellite, one back-up and one rising, and is scheduled for launch in 2007. 2007. The Company is headquartered in the Middle East and provides its services through different service providers. authorized.
The company provides voice communication with handheld terminals and land or maritime fixed stations. It provides short message service (SMS) and data and fax services at 9.6 kbit/s. It also has high-speed 144 kbit/s data services via a laptop-sized Hughes terminal (ThurayaDSL), with built-in GPRS services along with services like news, callback, voicemail, WAP, etc. .
Thuraya has over 250,000 portable subscribers today, and growth slowed down during the course of 2005. The phones offered by Thuraya have dual-mode capabilities, making it easy to operate on the Thuraya satellite and also as a GSM mobile phone that works on 900MHz network. broadband. This is different from Iridium, although it has the same function as Qualcomm phones in the Globalstar system. Qualcom is a CDMA/satellite phone.
Thuraya has the following average charges:
- Calls to any destination except those not on your list – voice: $1.25 per minute, data/fax service – $1.80 per minute.
- Calls to other Thuraya phones: $0.85 per minute, data/fax service: $1.40 per minute.
- Iridium Calls – $3.00 per minute, Data/Fax Service – $3.00 per minute.
- Calls to Inmersat – $3.00 per minute, Data/Fax Service – $3.00 per minute.
- Calls to Inmersat A – $5.50 per minute, Data/Fax Service – $5.50 per minute.
Charges shown above are average and may differ from offer to offer.
Communication satellites have brought about a revolution in telecommunications. It has brought connectivity to the whole world, reaching those areas where there is no basic communication infrastructure.
