Caribou Gear

Satellite Phones

DavidAk

New member
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
108
Location
Wasilla, Ak
I rented one in Anchorage for a week during my May black bear hunt. The price was $125 for the week, plus usage. Can't remember what the cost per minute turned out to be, I wasn't going to use it unless I needed it but I ended up trying it out a couple times just to see how it worked.

Sometimes it took a few minutes to find the satellites..but in all, it wasn't too bad.

I can get you the contact info for the guy I got it from if you want.

Dave
 
David, Please post the Info bro !!

Ovis, thanx for the Info. I'm going to be looking into several options here myself son. I'll check out your info and get back to ya !!!
 
Moosie and I got on the subject of satellite phones, a subject I don't know a great deal about, other than they can be expensive, but nonetheless an invaluable asset to a remote hunters inventory.

Here is what I do know...Brand new phones will cost in upwards of $1K just for the phone. This isn't counting the service fees and steep by the minute charges ($1.99 a minute seems to be the norm).

The best phones I have heard of are the Motorola Iridiums. I don't know their advantages or disadvantages over some of the less expensive phones (i.e. globalstar, kyocera, etc). But I'm sure the "get what you pay for" rule applies.

Someone going on a journey in the bush has several options. An emergency beacon locator, vhf radio, cell phone (very iffy), or a satellite phone. If choosing the satellite phone you can buy new, used, or rent. If your buying used, a good place to start looking is ebay. I would venture to say by the time someone spent $300 (or more) for a three week hunt in the Alaska bush (moosie), you could of purchased yourself a used phone for the same amount. Then you'll always have it for those repeated trips to AK, then to Africa, Canada, etc, etc. Get the phone activated for hunting season and use it only when you need to and you should be able to keep the phone charges down pretty low.

Moosie

I wouldn't rent from AK, they will stiff you. Here is a site you can check out if renting is on your mind...
http://www.gpsphones.com/ Like I said though, ebay looks like it has some good deals. Might be getting one myself.

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vis
 
I'm told the company we got ours from is Sat Com Alaska, phone 907-569-2822. Unfortunately, all I've gotten at that number this morning is fax tones..not sure why.
I did a search on the net for "alaska" and "satellite phone" and found several listings. Maybe one of them will work...

sorry.
 
NO problem MAN... Thanx for looking into it. I got my feelers out and Will let you know what I come up with.

http://www.4satellitephones.com/

Rent Basic Model 9500 for only $75 a week or $250 a month. 16 ounce unit - Good model for Basic usage and short calls (3 to 5 minutes) with 24 hour standby and 3.2 hours talk time.

Rent Executive Model 9505 for only $175 a week or $525 a month. 13.2 ounces - Slightly better reception and call quality (5 to 10 minutes calls) and increased standby (38 hours) and talk time (3.6 hours). Also supports external headset.
Outgoing Calls cost $1.75 a minute outgoing to anywhere which includes all charges!
Incoming calls cost $1.75 a minute which includes a landline USA phone number. People calling you only pay the cost to reach a normal USA landline (Typically $.05 to $.10 a minute).
 
I like the 9500 option you posted. Reasonable price, does what you want to do, and is only a few more ounces than the 9505. The other websites appear to be cheaper (in fact you and I posted the same one), but the globalstar coverage seems to be sporatic in Alaska as opposed to the Iridium coverage. $250 for the month isn't bad at all...but you could own a cheaper version by then. Decisions...

smile.gif
vis

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 07-07-2003 23:14: Message edited by: Ovis ]</font>
 
Wish I could remember more about the phone we used. Service was kind of sporadic but not too bad. I just found out the usage bill came to $185. I don't remember using it that much..but there was some Crown Royal passed around the fire the night we used the phone..heh.
 
A quote from Muskeg when asked how he liked the globalstar service...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>The globalstar phone works very good. I had the iridium at first (before globalstar was up) but switched when iridium went under. Got into globalstar for very reasonable with the iridium by back and the globalstar promotions to pickup iridium customers. I like the GS unit better and the connection is much clearer than IR used to be. Also I like the cell phone feature (which IR does not have). When up on top of the Goat mountain the unit locks in on my cell system sometimes. The Misty Fjords used to be the black hole of communications. Not any more.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 08-03-2003 17:55: Message edited by: Ovis ]</font>
 
Thanx T-bone.... I'm faxing the Papers tomorrow... I guess We'll both find out how well they work.. YOU 15 miles back in some of the Nastiest country God gave Idaho looking for Sheep.. And me in AK, Gods Country... MAYBE I'll give you my # and we can Sharte $1.79/Min Together
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T-bone.. Got mine Ordered.. I went with the "Iridium Satellite Phone Rental" instead. The phone is more and the Usage is more but the coverage gets up to AK ALOT better....

Thanx for the Link SIR !!!!
 
Didn't bother calling because I thought you went camping...figured you wouldn't have a connection. Now if you had your sat-phone, woulda been a different story.

What was up? Were you going to bless me with your very presence?
biggrin.gif
 
Check out the Fireside uner Boy/girls Behave. Will tell the Story.

Anyways, I was gonig to Ask of a camping spot around Mnt. Home as I was heading there.. then decided to Blow right by it and Go to 3 island Crossing.... Was jsut going to Pick your brain on some stuff in that area
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Hehe...tis a good thing you didn't. About the best I could do is offer you a place to park your camper (my front yard) or point you to the dump across Air Base Rd.

I've yet to really get out and find what all this place has to offer. Been a busy year...hopefully this year I can have more free time outdoors.

Hope the weekend was good anyway!
 
GOHUNT Insider

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