Satelite cell phones?

[elevatorman]

I had been considering a satellite emergency device like the inreach or zoleo as I hunt alot of public land in the mountains where there's no cell signal by myself climbing trees with a saddle. Well now that they are coming out with satellite messaging capabilities to cover that same emergency communications role in cellphones it seems like a no brainer to me. Just wait until January when samsung releases the s24 lineup and get one. I'm not an apple fan but Apple already has this out now in all iPhone 14s.

Have any of yall iPhone folks used this yet?

To me it seems better than the inreach or zoleo because not only can you use it for emergency SOS 's but also to send a simple text to my wife to say I'm ok, but staying in the woods a bit longer, or she can reach me. And it's already in your phone. Just one less item to remember.

 

[Sagebrush1]

Yah if you could just do that from your phone with no added device, that would be awesome.
I have a ZOLEO that I am really impressed with, but I figure the next phone I get will probably negate the ZOLEO device. I have an IPhone 14 which I just got. Previously was an 8, so at my average phone lifespan I’ll be up for an iPhone 20 next. Ha!

 

[elevatorman]

I think your iPhone 14 already does that. It's supposed to be free for 2 years Also from what I'd read on apples page. Apple said you can send messages via satellite as well as send your location.

The other question I have is I'm assuming if I'm in the middle of nowhere and use satellite to send a message the person receiving it can be on regular cell towers?

I would love to play around with it and test it but my wife's iPhone is a 12.

I'm like you, I have a Samsung s10 that's beat up but still kicking and if it wasn't for the whole satellite thing in the new s24s I'd be trying to keep it another 4 or 5 years. A new flagship phone costs about what a new flagship bow or a performance center revolver does.

 

[Sagebrush1]

Hmmm….I’m going to have to look into that. Thanks for the info.

My son just went to college and we also got him a new 14 when I got mine. I was planning on getting him a ZOLEO because I know he’s going to be making new friends and doing adventurous stuff.

I bought a 16’ skiff when I went to college and we took that thing everywhere in SoCal spearfishing. Now I fully understand why my folks bought me a little GPS and handheld VHF…ha!

Shit really comes around.

 

[DoubleAron]

Correct me if I am wrong on this. Currently you can not simply send messages using an iPhone over Sat. You can contact emergency services and you can share your location with contacts. So you can send your Wife etc you current location but not any messages. This may expand in the future and my guess is that it will include messaging. It also currently can not send a breadcrumb track like an in reach etc.

 

[JSTAFNG]

Correct me if I am wrong on this. Currently you can not simply send messages using an iPhone over Sat. You can contact emergency services and you can share your location with contacts. So you can send your Wife etc you current location but not any messages. This may expand in the future and my guess is that it will include messaging. It also currently can not send a breadcrumb track like an in reach etc.

That’s what I thought. But would be sweet if I was wrong! Hopefully Someone can chime in. Because I have a iPhone 14pro and just bought a inreach mini 2!

 

[WapitiBob]

Iphone 14 only does SOS.

 

[perma]

I’d opt for the sat comm anyway. Small price to pay if your phone ever dies/fails and you’re in a pickle.

 

[JSTAFNG]

Iphone 14 only does SOS.

That’s what I thought. Makes me feel better about getting my Inreach now

 

[elevatorman]

Kind of a bummer. Apple definitely could've done more there. My wife just got the iPhone 15 and it's like yall said, SOS only.

I'm waiting for the s24 samsungs to come out in January. No way to know for sure yet but hoping since samsung took longer to work bugs out then apple and Samsung is using a better satellite network closer to earth that they will offer at least basic text messaging with their satellites. Definitely hoping. Heck I'd even pay a little extra for the service.

 

[Bob-WY]

To allow texting it would require more software etc. They will do SOS first and see if there's a market, which I doubt there is. Most of the country is under cell service, where it's not, a SMALL minority of customers go, so will it be worth it? Time will tell

Zoleo is a great peace of mind, especially elk hunting

 

[elevatorman]

There's more to it than just what the market demands as far as SOS purposes. They now have the ability to track you and your location no matter where you are, where as before they could only track you by triangulation from cell towers. No matter what your opinion of our surveillance state being good or bad, most everything nowadays is tracked and data stored. My point is there is definitely motivation for these phone companies to be putting sattelite capabilities into the phones outside of our small niche uses as hunters.

I'm not knocking dedicated sattelite devices as emergency means but it would be nice to have the same capabilities built into a device you already own for most folks that would be a cost savings and a benefit of less things to remember and bring.

 

[Sytes]

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[Airmedic1]

A couple other things to remember, the iPhone uses Global Star, same as SPOT devices. Garmin InReach uses the Iridium network, same as US special forces and our military. I have used the Iridium network during National disasters and it is rock solid, not so Global Star. It may be free but if it doesn’t work is it really free?