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Why use a Sat Phone?

It stands to reason, that travellers need a communication system that they can rely on. Since satellite technology has evolved and is now a realistically priced solution for communications, there has been a insurgence of the use of satellite phones (satphone) in business, education and recreation. The uptake of satellite technology is most obvious in the tourism sector, with hand-held satellites easy to use, easy to obtain, and providing a reliable, private, communication service to users.


Sat phones are best suited to people who wish to enable other people (family/work) to make direct dial voice calls with you whilst you are travelling, Call charges are still a little higher than regular mobile phone charges, however the use of the satellite phone would be limited to essential communication only. Most satphone will have a voice mail box and some have SMS.

One of the most appealing features of the newer satphones is the dual-mode functionalities in some handsets - there are now GSM/Satphones and CDMA/Satphones. This means that you can own one handset that can be both your mobile phone and your satphone. This is particularly useful now that the improvement in mobile coverage Australiawide (particuarly CDMA) means that the emergency phone you rely on when heading into the remote bush is the same as the phone you use for day-to-day social and business use back home.

To Hire or Buy?

You can now pick up a sat phone for as little as $1995 connected to a plan. Most service providers will charge a connection fee (flag fall), a monthly access fee (which may include a certain amount of free calls) and then your call costs. Call costs can vary and are usually lower per minute if you are on a higher month plan (similar to mobile phone plans).

Before buying a satellite phone, check out if you qualify for the Government Subsidy. Applications are open until June 2009. This can save purchasers up to $1100 off the purchase price of buying a satellite phone and this may go down to $1000 in July. For more information on this subsidy please click: Dept Broadband Communications and Digital Economy (DBCDE).

Hiring may be a more cost effective option for some travellers, particularly if you wouldn't use it in your normal course of life and work (although note the comments above, dual-mode handsets that are either GSM/Sat, or CDMA/Sat are available). By hiring, you will only pay the access fee for the time of the hire period and so this is a very flexible option. Hiring your satphone will also mean you benefit from using the latest hand-sets and accessories, which hopefully means they are the most reliable and compact. Additionally, if you have hired a satphone and experienced hardware failure (even accidental damage), then a replacement can be organised quickly.

There has been a massive increase in the number of companies now offering sat phones for hire, with many offering short term rental terms, easy pick up/drop off options (many will even courier the phone to your door from any state of Australia), standard accessories for charging by 12v/240v, external antennas for improved mobile reception etc. These companies will normally have a service arrangement with their preferred satellite provider, which takes away the hassle of working out plans and fees. However, depending on how you use your sat phone (ie. mostly to receiving incoming, or mostly to make outgoing, calls), you may find one service provider is more suited to your needs than another.