Inmarsat IsatPhone 2.1 Satellite Phone Kit (SIM Included), unlocked - Global Coverage - Voice, SMS, GPS Tracking, Emergency SOS - Prepaid and Monthly Service Plan Options

We purchased two Inmarsat IsatPhone 2 satellite phones (along with a basic monthly subscription plan through BlueCosmo) so that I will be able to make contact with my family in case of emergency while traveling (which I do frequently for work). During emergencies cellular networks might go down due to power outages or damage to the physical infrastructure of the network, or be saturated by callers using the network to contact their loved ones. Not all plan details etc. are super-evident when researching satphones, so I will provide some additional information based on my experience so far. 1) I learned that though only a very small number of satellite phone networks exist (with coverage in the Americas - only 3: Inmarsat, Iridium, and Globalstar), all calling plans are sold through a secondary vendor (in our case, BlueCosmo). 2) We chose Inmarsat for a combination of reasons. Price was one factor (the phones & minimum monthly calling plans are cheaper than Iridium), plus near global coverage (Globalstar only provides coverage in the Americas). Apparently, service is absent at the poles - but I don't have any antarctic travel expeditions planned (yet). 3) The biggest difference between Inmarsat & Iridium is that Inmarsat uses a small number of very high geostationary satellites. This means that you need to have 'line of sight' towards the equator to use your phone. I wondered if this would mean that at high latitudes we would need to be in a large open area to call, but in the northeast U.S. (at least) this was not the case. I was able to call easily from within a tree-enclosed driveway, This must mean the satellites are very high, and that the LOS required is thus at a fairly steep angle! 4) After purchasing the handset (which is pre-packaged with a sim card), you need to select a pre-paid minutes or a monthly post-paid calling plan. We chose the latter - but the most basic plan, which is about $35/month. We decided on a monthly calling plan because we purchased the phones for emergency use and we do not know when emergency will strike. All pre-paid plans expire, and the costs are comparable. (For instance, the cost for a 6 month pre-paid calling plan with the minimum number of minutes is not too different from 6 x $35.) 5) The phone itself is kind of fun to use. For those accustomed to the latest smartphone (but older than the age of 35) it may inspire nostalgia because of its physical similarity to a cell phone from the 1990s! Entering contacts, etc., is an adventure. 5) What can I say - the phones work great. Call clarity is similar to a cell phone, and the phones can send & receive SMS and short (max 160 character) emails. I have used the phone to call land lines, U.S. cell numbers, and other Inmarsat phones. So far, they are serving their purpose. I feel more comfortable traveling know that I will always be able to reach my family in case of emergency & vice versa.

2/9/17 This seems to be a good sat phone. As I mentioned in another review both Inmarsat and Iridium have their pros and cons. This phone and it's prepaid service seem more cost effective to have activated year round. $400.00 a year which is way cheaper than a cell phone bill. That's if the prepay plans don't change in the future. Setup was easy and straight forward, I think it was maybe a couple of hours before Bluecosmo had it activated with the prepaid SIM card that came with it. Also buying off of the Bluecosmo site is easy too, once everything is activated. The Inmarsat IsatPhone 2 is as described, it seems like it will hold up too normal use and wear and tear. It comes with all the extras you need as well. You may want order a backup battery just in case. Connecting to the satellite system itself was easy and takes a few seconds longer over the 9575 Extreme but not a deal breaker by any means. The first call I placed did take 3 attempts before it dialed out. The downside to the phone to me is the antenna which definitely has to be deployed to make a connection. It is worth noting that I did receive a signal in my house, like mentioned in the 9575 Extreme review. To me the biggest factor on which phone to pick is price point, as both the Isatphone 2 and the 9575 Extreme are solid products. There seems to be more accessories for the Iridium stuff though. For light usage I would stick with Isatphone 2 unless budget is a non issue. I did a lot of reading on both systems and ultimately ended up buying both and activating both. Since I have the Extreme too, that's the one I keep with me because of the convenient size but I would have no issue using either one. I have not had to use the them in an extreme situation yet so I can't speak to that but both seem good so far. Also don't let the SOS button be a determining factor on which one to buy, as both the Isatphone 2 and 9575 Extreme have the same feature and both are easy to set up with GEOS. I will update this review if anything changes, I thought some of this information may be useful to someone looking to buy a satphone.

Can’t go wrong with this high quality Sat phone. Hint: These things are built really, really well. They are also bought by people “just to have” and many wind up barely used, if at all. I hate buying used, but for this I think FB Mkt. or eBay would be a good idea to try first,

I am writing to share my recent experience with the SAT phone service, which unfortunately did not meet my expectations and caused significant inconvenience during a critical time. My family were embarking on a camping trip to a remote campsite with no cell phone reception. Given the lack of connectivity in the area, we relied heavily on the SAT phone as our lifeline in case of emergencies. Regrettably, the SAT phone failed to connect to the network when we encountered an actual emergency, leaving us without the essential communication we were counting on. The SOS function, unfortunately, did not work as expected either, adding to our distress. One of the primary issues I faced was with the activation process. Despite the service claiming 24/7 technical support, I discovered that it was only available during regular business hours and required an extra fee for after-hours assistance. This posed a challenge as I tried repeatedly to activate the SIM card over the weekend but received no response until much later. Even before the trip, I attempted various tests at home to ensure the phone's reliability. While I was able to make a test call successfully, it became evident that the phone dropped calls consistently whenever I moved or changed positions. As someone familiar with radio technology, I sought external antennas to enhance the phone's performance, but disappointingly, there were no compatible options available for this specific model. I discovered that the SAT phone had a critical flaw in its ability to receive incoming calls. I tried multiple dialing formats, asked others on different carriers to call, but the phone calls consistently failed. This limitation made it difficult for us to establish communication with the SAT phone when necessary. Messaging on the SAT phone proved to be problematic as well. The signal was highly sensitive to motion, and I struggled to send messages effectively using the phone's dialing pad. Constantly losing signal unless the phone remained stationary further added to the frustration. Despite investing hours with tech support before the trip, the issue with incoming calls persisted and was not resolved. I must emphasize that the technical support personnel were friendly and genuinely tried to assist, but it was evident that the root cause of the problem lay with the hardware itself. As a customer, it is clear to me that the service was not up to par, and I find it disheartening that there was no prompt resolution to the issues. Considering that incoming calls were supposed to be free, I cannot help but suspect other underlying business-related reasons for the phone's malfunction. In conclusion, I would caution others to be prepared for potential difficulties when using this SAT phone service. My experience was marked by disappointment and inconvenience, especially when we needed the phone the most. I hope that this feedback helps in improving the service for other users in the future.

I'm a professional nature photographer, and I'm often in places with no cell phone reception. I purchased this mainly for letting family know where I'm at each day while traveling off the grid, as well as emergency use. The reception exceeded my expectations, and even works very well within a dense forest (with trees about 3 stories tall). The ear speaker is nice and loud, and calls are clear with slight digital distortion. There is enough of a delay that you'll be conscious of it and have to be more patient than normal conversing with people. The phone is a bit large, but its much lighter than it looks, and it feels rock solid. It comes with every accessory needed, including ear piece, car and wall chargers, and a travel case. It uses a standard micro usb for charging. The whole thing fits nicely into my camera bag. Battery life is fantastic, but you need to remember to turn the phone off when stored. The price of the handset, battery life, and price of using the minutes was a great value compared to iridium. I'm using the prepaid card plan. Unfortunately, the 180 day, 100 unit card will now only be 90 days if activated after June 30 of 2016. That card was the best value by far. That being said, the prepaid card is still laughably cheaper than iridium. The minutes do roll over if you buy another prepaid card before expiration. I signed up for a GEOS search and rescue membership for $30 per year, and programmed the top emergency button to connect with them. BlueCosmo set up my sim card within 2 hours and I was set up and ready to go.

I ordered this phone because of what hurricane Maria did to our communications system in Puerto Rico in September 2017. Because of system's impact, my family in the mainland (USA) weren't able to contact us in Puerto Rico for 3 weeks. After chatting with Blue Cosmo techs I decided the Isatphone2 was the best for me as well as a monthly fee instead of prepaid. They also told me how to make calls from and to the Isatphone2 as well as sending and receiving texts messages. I tested the Isatphone2 in Arizona: get the satellite signal and works perfect. Today, from my home in Puerto Rico make a call and send a text from my Isatphone2 to my son's cellphone in Arizona. Call quality was great. Easy! Now we feel safe having the Isatphone2. Because of the monthly fee instead of prepaid my Isatphone2 is available to use 24/7. You never know when an Emergency will come. I never thought about a satellite phone before, but that hurricane opened my eyes. I was prepared with doors and windows shutters, food, for a month, a 600 gallon water tank, meds, first aid kit, games, a generator, etc. Have a portable radio and All our cell phones were ready and charged: useless because ALL communications were down three hours after the hurricane hit us (hit us for 36 hours!). Be connected gives family peace of mind especially when emergencies and catastrophes can occur any minute and you are TOTALLY incomunicated: no radio, no TV, no land lines, no cell phones no Internet. I am very pleased with my Isatphone2. It never leaves my purse. Peace of mind.

The performance of this phone is better than I expected it would be based on other reviews. First I have enough signal in my house to receive incoming alerts in most areas and manage to pull full signal thru a window even with a tree in the way. Second the voice quality is way better than what I was anticipating based on the specs of a 2.4 kilobit voice codec, in my testing so far it's much better than a Verizon 1x connection, but obviously can't compare to VoLTE. Third despite making calls to the east coast US, which is roughly a 50,000 mile trip one way (22.5k miles up to the sat, then 22.5k down to the Hawaii ground station, then another 5-6k to the east coast) the latency of the calls is actually pretty good, it is certainly noticeable but I don't find I'm talking over the other party too much. Now the only bad thing I've encountered so far is with the phone itself, for some reason occasionally while plugged it the battery will discharge rapidly for no apparent reason, the first time I noticed it the phone was completely dead and that's with a warm power adapter lol, the second time it seemed to have lost 1/2 charge in about 6 hours, again while plugged in. Overall I'm happy with the phone, although I would prefer to be able to keep it plugged in and on to receive incoming alerts, without worrying that the battery will be dead and phone off when going to use it.

No need to buy a card with minutes. Minutes can be added to the card that comes with it. It seems to be a good tool for off roading in the desert. Great satellite service here in Az.