Five things you need to know about satellite phones

The dreaded “No Service” warning that replaces a smartphone’s signal strength bars means no access to online weather services or navigation services, no ability to make or receive calls, and no way of alerting someone if you need to make an SOS call.

No matter how much you wave it around above your head, there are large parts of coastal Australia where a smartphone is not a smart solution.

That’s when a satellite phone can step in, offering the backup you hope you’ll never need. A satellite phone should give you coverage wherever you are, allowing you to keep in touch with loved ones back home. 

It can also be a lifesaver, from seeking the help of marine rescue services if you’ve broken down to full-blown emergencies that are a matter of life and death. 

It might simply be a matter of calling for help if you break down, or as urgent as a medical emergency where the satellite phone could help to save someone’s life.

Here are five things you need to consider when buying, renting or using a satellite phone.

While a VHF marine radio or a personal locator beacon have their place for remote comms, neither have the versatility of a sat phone. VHF has a range limitation, and while a personal distress beacon is good for an emergency, it doesn’t let rescuers know why you need help.

A satellite phone doesn’t use ground-based mobile phone towers. Instead, it relies on line-of-sight to satellites orbiting overhead – important to remember if the satellite phone handset uses a flip antenna. 

Once connected, a satellite phone can make and receive calls or text messages, and transfer data similar to a smartphone.

The three key Australian providers of satellite phones, airtime or prepaid plans are Iridium, Inmarsat and Thuraya, and each use their own set of satellites.

Satellite phones used to cost as much as a good used car and usage charges were also high, but prices have come down significantly for the hardware and some airtime usage fees are now reasonable.

Depending on where you plan to travel and your budget, there are a few satellite phone options.

A good budget option is the Thuraya range of sat phones. These use a geostationary group of satellites that offer coverage for about three-quarters of the earth’s surface. 

What that means for Australian coverage is that this phone won’t work so well in south-eastern areas. 

If you drew a line on the map from Brisbane to Adelaide, this phone does give very good coverage west or north of that line. That works for many travellers because the south-east is where most phones will have good mobile reception.

However, for full Australian coverage, you’re better off getting an Immarsat or Irridium satellite phone.

Immarsat is UK-based and uses four satellites for global coverage. The service is well known for its voice- and data-based marine applications. 

Iridium is the original satellite phone company that has well-established coverage via 66 new satellites. It is the most expensive option that is perhaps not the most economical choice for a casual user, but no doubt the best.

The entry-level Thuraya XT-LITE phone (from around $850) is a good budget option for occasional use. The XT-LITE has 80 hours of standby time and up to six hours’ talk time. It is small enough to put in your pocket, and has a built-in GPS so you can send your location and a message to up to four mobiles via a SMS.

The Thuraya XT-PRO is the next level up from the XT-LITE (costing from about $1500) and offers nice-to-have extra features such as a bigger lithium-ion battery offering talk time of up to nine hours and up to 100 hours’ standby, PC compatibility, USB data cable, privacy earpiece, and a microphone. 

The Thuraya XT-PRO also is water- and dust-resistant and shockproof, and comes with a micro USB charger. The Thuraya XT-PRO can use a satellite data connection to send and receive emails or browse the web with a connected laptop or PC.

The Inmarsat Isat Phone 2 (from about $1100) is rugged, user-friendly and has up to eight hours’ talk time and 160 hours’ standby time. It comes with 240-volt and 12-volt chargers. 

The main benefit of Inmarsat is that it offers both a post-paid airtime plan and the most flexible prepaid card in the market. The latter is good because if you are just a casual user you can top up your Immarsat account whenever it suits you without paying expensive annual fees. 

Arguably the most trusted brand in the satellite phone space is Iridium. 

You can buy the Iridium 9555 handset for around $1700 with up to 30 hours’ standby time, four hours’ talk time, and two-way SMS and short email capability.

If you don’t want a dedicated satellite phone, Iridium and Thuraya each make a unit that works like a Wi-Fi hotspot for your smartphone. This option will set you back from about $850.

The Iridium GO! is Iridium's most compact voice and data device, with connections for up to five devices. Rugged and very portable, the Iridium Go! Wi-Fi satellite hotspot allows communication anywhere on the planet.

Like a mobile phone service, a satellite phone account holder will need to pay a monthly access fee. These fees are generally a lot more expensive than a mobile phone, but then again, they provide communications in places where a mobile won’t.

The cheapest is the Thuraya, which costs from about $22 a month. There’s a $44 activation fee, $22 monthly access fee and calls are 99 cents per 30 seconds to landlines or mobiles. SMS messages are $1.10 while data calls are $1.25.

Immarsat charges a one-off fee of $33 for a SIM card, with pre-paid airtime plans priced from about $69 a month (as a credit extension on existing credit on a handset). Iridium’s prepaid airtime plans are from $229 for 75 minutes of airtime a month. 

Iridium post-paid (which benefits those who expect to receive calls to the sat phone) includes a $44 activation fee, $50 monthly access fee, a flag fall charge of 50 cents and about $1.00 per 30 seconds of voice call to a mobile phone.

You can use free services to reduce costs on some plans. For example, sending an SMS message from a mobile phone to your satellite phone won’t cost you anything on Iridium’s pre-paid plans, while Immarsat won’t charge for an SMS sent to the satellite phone where the call is made via the satellitephonedirect.com.au website.

Check when buying a handset and phone plan to ensure that the device is for use in Australia or you will have problems. If the satellite phone won’t allow for local dialling, or the usage fees are higher than expected, a cheap online sat phone can turn out to be very expensive.

Be aware that there are some pitfalls to buying a unit that you can pair with your smartphone. These can be expensive to use as the download speeds are the same as the sat phone as they use the same network. 

You will need to work out how to get the most out of the unit without it costing you a fortune, especially if using it for emails and photos and so on.

If you’re thinking about buying a satellite phone for just a couple of trips and then flipping it, they are very different to mobile phones in terms of second-hand values. Expect to get back at least half the price you paid when selling it.