Globalstar

[B.C.]

After reading Johns report on his overnighter about the lack of service on his phone it got me thinking about it again. Several years ago when we were fishing out of hatteras we purchased a Globalstar sat phone, the first couple of years we were happy with the service. Last year I was disconnected a couple of time in the middle of a call. This year I have made 1 30 second call 30 miles off the beach before being disconnected. We bought this phone as a piece of saftey equipment and have paid the monthly service of around $50. Now it seems as they are useless. How many people have these and are you having the same problem? Does any one have the hard wired option and does that help? Maybe John (admin) can contact these people and see what is going on with there service.

[snakeeyes]

OUR SERVICE IS SPOTTY AT BEST, WE CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WERE CREDITED 6 MONTHS SERVICE. THEY ALSO STATED SOME PROBLEMS THERE HAVING, BUT ID CALL AND ***** , SEE WHAT HAPPENS...DAVE

[sailonafly]

My team has a Globalstar as well. Last year it worked for us perfectly. This year on our first three trips to the shelf we had a similar experience as you, basically zero connected calls. I spoke with some techs at GlobalstarUSA. There are several diagnostics you can do on the phone to help it acquire the proper satellite. Although this helped it was very very little help. Last week they sent us a replacement phone. Some sort of recall. The new phone although not as good as last year was at least able to make some calls last week. I got disconnected often and had to stand on the bow holding it in the air looking like a lightning rod, but at least I got thru. I recommend you call them and see if you can get a newer model phone and hope for the best. If you read this months BIG GAME FISHING JOURNAL there is an article that details the degradation of the satellites and how they are falling out of orbit faster than sat phone providers anticipated. They have plan to launch interim satellites, but I dont think its for another year or two. Check out the article it has the details, until then pray you don't have to rely on it in an emergency situation.

[Sterling]

I received a letter from Outfitter Satellite this year with my renewal explaining that the satellites are degrading and that we should expect spotty service, with 5 - 7 minute lags to pick up signals, and other issues. I don't have the letter in front of me but I believe they are going to launch some new satellites over the upcoming years to help the situation and that a real fix is scheduled for something like 2010. These facts could be off a bit but that's the general feeling I got from the letter. We used ours last week for a few calls and it was difficult to get and keep a signal. We were still able to make a few calls and stay connected for 10 - 20 mins.

[Buddy H]

Several months ago I purchased a Globstar Sat phone from West Marine. I called Globstar to purchase a service contract and connect the phone only to be told by the service rep that I should return the phone to West Marine. Globstar sent a notification back in January 2007 to pull all Globstar (6500 and up) off the shelves as they would no longer honor contracts on them. I was told by the rep to purchase an Iridium 9505A; a much more expensive phone but well worth the extra $, as it has all it's satellites operational. GMPCS out of Pomano Beach, FL. (954-973-3100 -ask for Cliff Trinkofsky) forwarded to me a email attachment of the notification sent to all retailers about the Globstar phone. In a nut shell it said that Globstar had lost 4 satellites-2 were still up, but not for long - and it could take up to two years before they were fully operational again.

West Marine excepted the Globstar for return- without question. I purchased the Iridium from GMPSC with a great service contract, and it works like a charm....no down time- no interference.

Buddy
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