satellite phones

[donereach]

Does anyone have a suggestion of which type of satellite phones work best from Abaco??

[Sailorfl]

Ask Capt. Marti Brown on s/v "The Other Woman" at Marsh Harbor Marina. She knows all.

[CarolP]

your choice in sat phones is pretty much limited to service from Globalstar and Irridium. Globalstar is cheaper (both for the phone & the service) but not as reliable. I use mine in Walkers but get disconnects quite often cuz the satellite is not close enough. I think the coverage is better in Marsh Harbor. Irridum has greater world wide coverage and is more reliable in the Bahamas, but you will pay for it. Our sat phone has come in very handy in the Bahamas. Our plan costs $50 a month for 120 minutes, $0.75 for additional minutes thru GMPCS in Pompano Beach. Gotta check their monthly billing closely for errors.

[abacojen]

Contact GEOSat Solutions in Hollywood, FL. 954-922-9585. They supplied a sat phone to Treasure & Boat Harbour

[Kimberly]

FWIW, none of the Globalstar or Iridium phones that our local government hurricane team, private individuals had in place on Eleuthera and Harbour Island during either Frances or Jeanne actually worked once the storm hit ... the only communication that got through was Satellite Bahamas' Direcway two-way satellite Internet access, which worked come rain or shine.

[RWGrooms]

Does the Abacos have a local Internet Provider and if so, who is it?

[DrRalph]

There was an extensive discussion about satellite phones in September after the hurricanes. Use the search tool above to access this info. As Kimberly has noted, none of them worked well during the storms.

[Agur's Wish]

Have an Iridium phone and it has never failed and it sounds if you are sitting next to the person. Spent the hurricanes with Captain Marty who had Globalstar and she had a hard time staying connected and said even without bad weather she had problems with dropped calls after 15 minutes. I was able to call home to Kansas during the height of the storm and the only reason they had trouble hearing me was because of the wind (here not in Kansas). Iridium is more expensive. Set-up was about $1600 which included phone, 200 minutes, waterproof case, and a car antennae, which works very well, you don't need the marine/boat, more expensive one. You don't have a monthly plan as you do with Globalstar, you buy a certain amount of minutes and they are there until you use them. Our first few sets of minutes we bought were $.99 per minute (same as Batelco) but the last ones have cost us $1.25 per minute. Unfortunately once you buy you're phone you're stuck with the service that is provided by the company you bought the phone from and you can't shop around for cheaper minutes... I think. If you have any questions please feel free to private message me.

[Wrubiera]

Last time we were in GTC The AT&T cell phone from the states worked. It also worked at West End and Port Lucaya. If your looking for communication while in these places they seemed to work ok. However this ability of communication although nice, seems to cheapen the whole Abaco experience. I think I liked it better whn you had to spend $50 on a 2 minute call from one of those payphones. This alllowed to tell the people at the mainland, " Talk to you when I get back" --- the Ms Regina crew