John:

I know a little about Iridium phones. They are the only service which uses the Motorola phones and no wonder if I am not mistaken they are still partially owned by Motorola. Iridium built an amazing 66 operational Satellite Constellation and 13 spares offering an amazing complete earth coverage. In fact Iridium is the only provider of truly global mobile satellite voice and data solutions.

This coverage and is why the US DoD chose Iridium for global communications. New phones and improved technology have made voice communication much better than what it was initially. However, like Doug said. Satellite phones ?must see? the sky to work correctly and offer the best signal. Think of your GPS unit and how if you go under trees the unit may stop reading, the same applies to Iridium. In fact, I know of no one who has used the phone inside of a brick building. I do know of some that have used this phone inside of a Cessna Citation (Business jet) with success.

A few public service agencies responding to needs within a community have purchased Iridium for their use in mobile communications centers, Today I know of four agencies that rely solely on Iridium for their mobile command centers. One of these agencies, the Idaho State Police, has 2 phones in their van. When I asked the communications guru for ISP why they did not choose Globalstar, he simply replied coverage problems with Globalstar. That was about 4 years ago.

Iridium offers the best coverage as far as I can tell. Looking at Globalstars webpage shows fringe coverage for the user in Alaska. If you are in downtown Seattle calling Alaska downlinking might be a problem.

Another benefit of Iridium is the so-called Iridium flares. During star parties where the public can view the stars using Amatuer Astronomer?s telescopes a passing Iridium satellite will turn and reflect the Sun?s rays briefly off of the solar panels. This produces a bright flare like streak across the sky. Wows the public every time. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Take care,

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared!