Bushwalk Australia

This is an interesting piece of technology which might suit some of us. It connects onto your iPhone for sat phone functionality. I noticed that it is not SMS capable but there is a new model reportedly being made available which will cover this short coming and it looks like it might not be available to us yet but worth watching out for.

Here is the link.
http://www.satsleeve.com.au/


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Here is a little more info from gizmodo.

http://gizmodo.com/5991685/this-case-tu ... lite-phone


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Hi Giddy Up, was linked here as well: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=13827 could be an interesting development?

I did a thread search but couldn't locate anything. Will have a read now. Thanks


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Nuts wrote:Hi Giddy Up, was linked here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=13827 could be an interesting development?

Looks to be a separate crowd there Nuts

Ahh, tis too. For iphone no less.

Depending on where you are based I'd be careful of the Thuraya network.

Two year ago I did some testing a Thuraya Sat phone here in Vcitoria. The actual phone was nice, but the reception was terrible. It was only good for text messages and as a GPS unit. They used to be sold though Australia Post shops by a company called Indigo Telecom.

The problem with the network is that it relies on a geostationary satellite that's positioned above Singapore. I suspect it would be great in Northern WA. But useless here in Victoria, despite their marketing clairms

There's no Satsleeve for the iPhone 5 here yet, just the 4/4S, could be a few months off yet.
The concept is good, but as mentioned earlier the satellite aspects might be uneven.
I might stick with the inReach for awhile yet, those Iridium satellites do ok.

Isn't Thuraya on the Globstar network? Globstar was horrible, went bust for a while iirc but I believe they have had a more recent group of satellites launch? (also network the Spot system?)

(we went with irridium and no need to change but all these developments are interesting.. if a bit steep $ wize)

Just found this. Real time tracking of the Thuraya satelite. Looks along way away to me?

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=32404


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Ahh, sorry, educating myself on the run. Thuraya separate (they have two satellites of their own) I found these 'coverage' maps: http://www.gtc-usa.com/satphone/Coverag ... ml#Thuraya

Looked surprisingly affordable at around $1.40/min prepaid. Will this knock off PLBs in due course, similar how mobiles took out personal beepers?

It's an expensive device, but the main problem is that it is specific to a single type of phone. When you upgrade your iPhone to a newer model with a different docking socket, the Sat Sleeve becomes useless.

ribuck wrote:It's an expensive device, but the main problem is that it is specific to a single type of phone. When you upgrade your iPhone to a newer model with a different docking socket, the Sat Sleeve becomes useless.

+1

Hi Everyone!

As the owner of the www.satsleeve.com.au site... I can answer a few of these questions and concerns...

Firstly, there is VERY SOON an iPhone 5 front. The back actually remains the same (the bit that contains the SIM card), but the front that fits the iPhone can be upgraded. The 5 version is actually globally due to be launched within the next week or so for stock ordering... and could be in Australia within the next few weeks.

Galaxy 4 users should also see a unit in a few months as well. So, there is hope for those guys soon too!

Considering the cost of a satellite phone that is stand alone, these are not badly priced. And, they are the only mobile satellite device that was built for the 21st century! Every other item is still stuck in a time warp!

Regarding the data and SMS... this first model can do SMS but not data (meaning it won't download apps and update your data etc)... but the new models coming out later this year (around Sept to Oct is the estimate... but it could be longer), you will be looking at full data capacity.

Prepaid is only good if you are OUTSIDE of Australia. In Australia, prepaid on these things is not allowed, and Thuraya have been told they must terminate any prepaid connections they have here if they discover them. Reason ... the Govt cannot listen into prepaid calls if necessary. It is a legal requirement here in Australia that all comms are able to be tapped if necessary ... not that they are ALL tapped, but there is what is called a Legal Intercept requirement that all mobile phone devices must comply with here. The Thuraya Prepaid does not comply.

Call plans available here are as low as $15 a month and 99c per minute. No term. $25 activation fee. That is the best in the market.

Globalstar and Thuraya are not linked in ANY Way. Totally different networks.

True regarding reception issues in SE corner. The truth is that the satellite we look at here sits on the equator this side of Malaysia. If you dip behind a mountain, and your SatSleeve/Thuraya phone cannot see the satellite, you won't have network until they do. This could mean hiking up to the top of a ridge, or some similar act to get network, but they are a predictable network. Because the satellites do not move, you know where they are, and can then work out what to do to get network. Other moving systems don't give 100% coverage either (despite the advertising they offer)... they will cut in and out more in mountainy areas... but they do reach more places (perhaps not for long though .... sometimes only enough to get an SMS out).

No network or system is perfect at this stage. Unfortunately.

Wish there was something that ticked every box for everyone... but at this stage it is just the items that tick most boxes for you that will work better than the others in many situations. The trick is to pick the right dealer with the right know how and knowledge... and get good advice.

This forum is a good start!

Great to see the discussion going!

Let me know if you have any questions. Will endeavour to check back in to read through soon!

Jackie Satphone

roysta wrote:

ribuck wrote:It's an expensive device, but the main problem is that it is specific to a single type of phone. When you upgrade your iPhone to a newer model with a different docking socket, the Sat Sleeve becomes useless.

+1

Not really true... sorry! There is an iPhone 5 version coming out quite soon... weeks rather than months for the hardware... It is actually stock of the BACK (generic bit) that is more of a problem at the moment for dealers!

Enjoy your day!

JackieSatphone wrote:Prepaid is only good if you are OUTSIDE of Australia. In Australia, prepaid on these things is not allowed, and Thuraya have been told they must terminate any prepaid connections they have here if they discover them. Reason ... the Govt cannot listen into prepaid calls if necessary. It is a legal requirement here in Australia that all comms are able to be tapped if necessary ... not that they are ALL tapped, but there is what is called a Legal Intercept requirement that all mobile phone devices must comply with here. The Thuraya Prepaid does not comply.

Call plans available here are as low as $15 a month and 99c per minute. No term. $25 activation fee. That is the best in the market.

Thank you for your detailed explanation on your service. Whilst the price point looked affordable for recreational users, the monthly subscription lock-in is still prohibitive for those who's the occasional need. Any reason why prepaid account holders couldn't be tapped and satisfy any government regulations?

GPSGuided wrote:

JackieSatphone wrote:Any reason why prepaid account holders couldn't be tapped and satisfy any government regulations?

Any reason why a government that taps people's phones doesn't get voted out of office?

Anyway, I suspect it has nothing to do with the technicalities of tapping. I guess it's because a monthly plan is linked to a bank account or credit card, but a prepaid account isn't strongly linked to the user's identity.

ribuck wrote:Anyway, I suspect it has nothing to do with the technicalities of tapping. I guess it's because a monthly plan is linked to a bank account or credit card, but a prepaid account isn't strongly linked to the user's identity.

That makes sense. Shame they can't do it the same as our regular prepaid mobile phone accounts. I suspect the service provider has a part in this also.

GPSGuided wrote:

JackieSatphone wrote:Prepaid is only good if you are OUTSIDE of Australia. In Australia, prepaid on these things is not allowed, and Thuraya have been told they must terminate any prepaid connections they have here if they discover them. Reason ... the Govt cannot listen into prepaid calls if necessary. It is a legal requirement here in Australia that all comms are able to be tapped if necessary ... not that they are ALL tapped, but there is what is called a Legal Intercept requirement that all mobile phone devices must comply with here. The Thuraya Prepaid does not comply.

Call plans available here are as low as $15 a month and 99c per minute. No term. $25 activation fee. That is the best in the market.

Thank you for your detailed explanation on your service. Whilst the price point looked affordable for recreational users, the monthly subscription lock-in is still prohibitive for those who's the occasional need. Any reason why prepaid account holders couldn't be tapped and satisfy any government regulations?

It seems to be an issue between Thuraya and ACMA here in Australia that is the problem... so Thuraya simply do not have a licence to operate prepaid here. Perhaps it costs them too much money for a small market...?

Anyway, the $15 is a month to month plan anyway... so if you are not using it for long periods... simply disconnect it. It means a new SIM and phone number each time, but you will be saving quite a bit in the long term if you just connect it a week or so before you need it, and disconnect when you finish using it.

I hope this helps.

Jackie

ribuck wrote:

GPSGuided wrote:

JackieSatphone wrote:Any reason why prepaid account holders couldn't be tapped and satisfy any government regulations?

Any reason why a government that taps people's phones doesn't get voted out of office?

Anyway, I suspect it has nothing to do with the technicalities of tapping. I guess it's because a monthly plan is linked to a bank account or credit card, but a prepaid account isn't strongly linked to the user's identity.

Hi Ribuk...

A little bit like that. Prepaid was really only ever for dodgy countries like Indonesia where they had issues getting monthly fees out of people... they had a habit of not paying their bills and racking up a bit of an account... so prepaid was introduced mainly to ensure that those countries like PNG and Indonesia still got the service, but they had to pay for it up front. The issue here though does have to do with regulation and interception. There was some contractual funniness as well, but the main reason is the Legal Intercept.

ribuck wrote:

GPSGuided wrote:

JackieSatphone wrote:Any reason why prepaid account holders couldn't be tapped and satisfy any government regulations?

Any reason why a government that taps people's phones doesn't get voted out of office?

Anyway, I suspect it has nothing to do with the technicalities of tapping. I guess it's because a monthly plan is linked to a bank account or credit card, but a prepaid account isn't strongly linked to the user's identity.

Probably because they ALL do it!

UPDATE

The new Generation 2 SatSleeve is going to be available at the end of September, early October and will connect to the app via Wi-Fi.

The 'current' model is via Bluetooth.

Will be a bit more expensive, but you will be able to use the data stream on the satellite ... so you can still get texts etc out ...

You can set which apps have access to data so you don't get charged silly amounts of money for updating your apps etc...

Enjoy your day!

Jackie

JackieSatphone wrote:Prepaid was really only ever for dodgy countries like Indonesia where they had issues getting monthly fees out of people... they had a habit of not paying their bills and racking up a bit of an account... so prepaid was introduced mainly to ensure that those countries like PNG and Indonesia still got the service, but they had to pay for it up front.

I beg to differ

Can you support this assertion with verifiable information? It doesn't match my understanding of the history of prepaid satphone minutes.

If you search for 'prepaid satphone cards' on google, you will notice that Iridium prepaid is mainstream, and I think it has been since satphones became available to joe public in the US. It is a method for casual users to keep a lid on costs and also for heavy users to buy bulk minutes at a discount. That's without even discussing the highly discriminatory language used above to describe the countries immediately to our north. As a business owner, you should know better than to put your business under the spotlight by using language that would be found offensive to parts of your potential client base.

Fact is, contract vs prepaid is no different b/n satphone and regular mobile operators. It's all about locking in customers for a regular revenue stream. They want to squeeze in as many contractual customers as they can for maximum dependable revenue base. That's all. All the rest are excuses.

Just found these guys who hire PLB's and sat phones. What I was interested in was there appraisal of the sat sleeve for the southern reaches of Australia in the last paragraph. Sums it up really.

http://www.epirbhire.com.au/Thuraya%20SatSleeve.htm

Giddy_up wrote:Just found these guys who hire PLB's and sat phones. What I was interested in was there appraisal of the sat sleeve for the southern reaches of Australia in the last paragraph. Sums it up really.

http://www.epirbhire.com.au/Thuraya%20SatSleeve.htm

Great link, so for Tassie forget this option.

As for the prepaid debate. Well our Government is one of the most intrusive in the world when it comes to electronic monitoring of the population. Amazing that the financial act used to issue credit cards is now used to link phone accounts to an individual. You would think that all of us are making bombs in our garages for such an overkill monitoring approach. Money would be better spent on drug and driver education or basic health but not in this world of paranoia.

Whatever the reason it appears that an economical communication system is been priced out of the casual user's range. I for one, on top of my normal communication budget, could not justify the extra expense, even if it worked in Tassie. Now if it could replace my mobile phone plan, then yes. But the telecommunication industry is all about over inflated claims, hidden fees, and massive bills for excess data. The carpet bagger of historical America have returned, and we have a bungling inept Telecommunication Ombudsman as our only protection.

Regards

This is an old thread but as it seems to have stalled with some decidedly debateable conclusions, I thought I’d add another point of view.

The assertion that Thuraya phones do not work or are marginal in TAS or VIC is absolutely wrong - mine works just fine sitting in my lounge room in Hobart for goodness sake!

Whilst it is obviously less desirable to have the low look angle for the southern states (in Tassie it’s about 20 degrees in the south and nearly 24 on the north coast) this doesn’t make it unviable even in mountainous terrain. Sure you may have to pick your spot to make a call but even with Iridium which works on 66 low earth orbit satellites, unless you have a wide sky angle coverage you are going to get drop outs as the satellites pass by – this happens all the time on this network in fact.

With Thuraya you do only have one chance, the Thuraya-3 satellite (which as mentioned above is in geostationary orbit just west of Singapore) but once you are in a line of sight with it you will generally get a stable connection. Mountains in Australia are small by world standards and not that steep so getting 20 degrees of clear sight to the NW is generally not a huge issue. Yes you can’t pick where you break your leg but if you’re not alone, it’s not a biggy to have your mate find some sky for a phone call.

The conclusions about the prohibitive cost of Thuraya ownership for casual users are also debateable. Pricing plans etc can be a bit confusing but my current SIM cost AUD 42 on Ebay, came with 20 units of credit and a validity of 2 years. The validity is automatically extended after these 2 years by deducting 15 units per year out of the available balance. The cost of units varies depending on how many you buy at a time but for me buying close the minimum amount, keeping my Thuraya connected and active costs around AUD 20 per year, so much, much cheaper than most mobile phone contracts.

There is of course the debate over PLB or sat phone for emergency use. There are a lot of factors to consider in this but personally if you really just want something for emergencies in Australia and the rest of the developed world, I don’t think you can beat a 406 MHz PLB with GPS and 121.5 MHz homing signal, especially as they are now coming with a 7 year battery life and price tag of as little as AUD 300. If you’re going on remote adventures in developing countries and want something for emergency use you are much better with a sat phone as you can actively participate/facilitate your rescue plus it’s great for keeping in touch with the folks back home but pick the right phone for the job as Thurayas don’t work everywhere.

And just to chime in on the question of pre paid Thuraya SIMs not being legal in Australia...

A pre paid airtime seller based in Victoria has advised me that whilst you can indeed no longer enter into a pre paid contract with a reseller/telco operating in Australia because it doesn’t conform to the local phone bugging regulations, you can still use a prepaid Thuraya SIM you bought internationally to access Thuraya services in Australia.

So if you’re interested in a sat phone (particularly for emergency or occasion use) but are put off by the prohibitive costs of the monthly plans offered by Aussie telcos/resellers (who would just love you to believe you don’t have any other choices), simply buy a Thuraya SIM overseas on Ebay or Amazon for next to nothing and top it up on line.

Also, looking at that link again at http://www.epirbhire.com.au/Thuraya%20SatSleeve.htm these guys seem to not understand how Thuraya phones work. They say about the look angle “For NSW and southern QLD coastal users it will be 20 to 22 degrees” and this is all fine but “For the Victorians and Tasmanians, forget it - won't work for you” even though the look angle is 25 degrees in Melbourne, 29 in Mildura and between around 20 to nearly 24 in Tassie, so on average better than in the places they say work ok. It’s not the only thing that’s wrong on their site so I guess they are EPIRB and PLB specialists...