GLOBALSTAR SAT PHONES -SUCK!!!!

[Big Jay]

We have a globalstar and i second that. It takes quite some time to find a signal. It does get the job done if you don't mind waiting. Thank god we haven't had to and hope never do use it in the case of an emergency.

[Capt Josh]

Josh,

It was horrible! My verizon phone no lie had better signal than the global star.

Steer away! I have some further informatio| I will post up tmrw.

Thanks Mary! Still waiting for you to ring the doorbell down here in PV you know...

To add to this i got some info from my electrician today...who is quite the techno geek...god bless him...and he is saying that Irridium satellites are now 17 yrs old...and that they were originally designed with a 10 yr life-span so...according to him...they are going to start dropping like flies...a problem Globalstar now seems to be having...

He went on further to add that Globalstar is launching many new sats and that in his opinion they might be the one to stick with given what's coming down the pipe in the near future...he seems to believe that Irridium doesn't have the money to finance another full-scale satellite launch...

Can anyone elaborate on this who may be closer to the source???

Spill it...

[TROPHY SPORTFISHING]

Capt Josh that's what they told me also but remember they are trying to keep customers to afford to pay for there new satellites.

[Capt Josh]

roger that one...

so i guess the answer to my "which phone should we buy then?" question is...

None of the above...kinda hard to believe no? Looks like i'll just put the cell phone booster on the boat and be done with it...

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

[B.C.]

I have been hoping the Canyon Runner or Capt Steve on the Free Spirit would chime in, they have the globalstar with a hard wired ant.

[B.C.]

When I called Globalstar they gave me a code to try next time I cant get a connection.

[JD5652]

Not only is Globalstar's service terrible...their so-called customer service is even worse. I cancelled my service on May 1, 2007 when my contract ended. Within three weeks, I received a bill for $37.63. I called customer service on 5/31 and after almost 30 minutes I finally spoke with a real person that assured me the charges were not legit and would be removed. Then I received another statemetn in July that said I owed $37.23....so they reduced the bill by $0.40!!!

So again I called customer service and complained and again the customer srevice agent said that there was no reason for the charges and that the charges would be removed. Now...just this week I received yeat another statement that says I owe them $9.21.

This time I called customer service and requested to speak with a manager. I was told that not a single manager was on duty and that they would call me back. Well....that was five days ago......do you think I've received a call from a manager yet??......TOTAL BS....

[Sterling]

I completely agree with Mary that the service sucks right now. I've had the same issues out there. What I can say is that I at least got a letter with my renewal saying basically that ... service is going to suck. I get my service through Outfitter Satellite and I think they sent the letter so I give them credit for that. It explained degrading satellites and replacement efforts that will happen over the coming years. I think the letter said time to get a signal could be 5 - 7 minutes and, I don't have the letter in front of me but it seemed like it could be a couple of years before the new satellites are up.

[OUTCAST1]

Thanks Mary! Still waiting for you to ring the doorbell down here in PV you know...

To add to this i got some info from my electrician today...who is quite the techno geek...god bless him...and he is saying that Irridium satellites are now 17 yrs old...and that they were originally designed with a 10 yr life-span so...according to him...they are going to start dropping like flies...a problem Globalstar now seems to be having...

He went on further to add that Globalstar is launching many new sats and that in his opinion they might be the one to stick with given what's coming down the pipe in the near future...he seems to believe that Irridium doesn't have the money to finance another full-scale satellite launch...

Can anyone elaborate on this who may be closer to the source???

Spill it...

I worked in spacecraft operations on the Iridium project for three years-Leesburg, Virginia.

Some of the spacecraft are aging, but not all of them. They weren't all launched at the same time. Some were launched at least as recently as five years ago.

Iridium had 8 "storage" vehicles in orbit to replace any that malfunctioned-just fire some little thrusters to position them and put them in operation.

There are 66 spacecraft in operation with Iridium constellation-11 each in 6 different polar planes.

Spacecraft life expectancy is primarily based on two things: Amount of hydrazine propellent onboard to fuel little thrusters to keep them in proper orbit when they drift a little (called stationkeeping,) and solar array degradation due to micro-meteorites and space dust they encounter. Both of these factors have wide margins of error in design considerations, and most spacecraft can serve reliably long after the time period that was "guaranteed" to the customer.

Initially, Iridium project went bankrupt, and the constellation was sold for pennies on the dollar. An initial military contract for 20,000 phones enabled them to stay in operation. Since then, commercial revenues have continued to increase and provide small financial cushion to remain in operation. I don't have access to info for future planning to keep the service indefinitely.

My recommendation: Buy Iridium service one year at a time. If constellation deteriorates, take another look at the options.

Hope this helped.