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Gear Review: Satworx ISatphone
A bargain of a satellite phone.
If you spend a lot of time in the mountains (like me) or travel through dangerously remote places, a sat phone can give you (and your family) great peace of mind. Unfortunately, the price can cause anxiety. Not the ISatphone; it’s a steal at $495. (Monthly service charge is $20, and the per minute fee is 85 cents, which is very competitive.) At well under a pound, it’s lighter than most competitors (but durable).
As long as I had direct access to the southern sky (where the satellite is located) I had static-free, reliable reception. Big bonus: I could send and receive texts on the easy-to-use keypad and I could text or email my precise GPS coordinates quickly in case of an emergency (45 cents per email or text). Battery life is impressive: I got six hours of talk time on one full charge. $495; 9.8 oz.; satworx.com.
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READERS COMMENTS
You fail to mention the cost of incoming calls to the caller. This phone operates on inmarsat's satelites. Inmarsat has its own country code and therefore passes the high cost back to the long distance carrier and finally the caller. You will not find an ld carrier that charges less than $8 per minute for calls originating from the US.
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