Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

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Apoptosis
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Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Apoptosis »

A buddy of mine works for KBR and is going to Afghanistan for a few years and wants to get a Satellite phone.

I know nothing about them, but was curious if anyone in our forum does?

After some searching the Genus, a Windows Mobile smartphone that will connect to AT&T's network, and, when out of range, can connect to the TerreStar satellite network looks impressive, but isn't out til 2010.
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Sowser
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Sowser »

Yeah we are all "waiting" it because it doesn't come out until next year! I have a buddy who is a frequent "contractor" in the Middle East, mostly Afghanistan, and he essentially got himself lo-jacked in case of kidnapping. Something to think about.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Dragon_Cooler »

My parents sold them in thier cell phone store when they were first coming out and then they had a cell phone store. I used it a couple times to check it out back then, but nothing now or in recent years.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Major_A »

My friend is back in Iraq for his third "tour" with KBR. His T-Mobile cell phone works just fine. There is a about a 2 second delay between when he talks and I get the conversation though.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Apoptosis »

Major_A wrote:My friend is back in Iraq for his third "tour" with KBR. His T-Mobile cell phone works just fine. There is a about a 2 second delay between when he talks and I get the conversation though.
Do you know what plan he has or how much that would cost? I didn't know cell phones would work fine there.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Sowser »

Iraq is a lot more modernized than most parts of Afghanistan. I'm sure you can call the actual cell phone companies that have phone service in Afghanistan and they can give you an idea of the areas they cover. For cheap overseas calling check out http://www.pingo.com/
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Major_A »

He was stationed in Afghanistan for his first year and his phone worked fine there too. I'm not sure where he was located when he was in Afghanistan but it worked just like it does in Baghdad. As far as I know he just has a regular cell phone service.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Apoptosis »

One of my two buddies that just went over to Afghanistan got hit yesterday by an IED... He is okay, but has a really bad concussion.

He was there only 2 weeks of a one year deployment before he got a direct hit on the vehicle that he was driving.

He said it was just like this 60 minutes clip - http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id= ... bsCarousel
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by Major_A »

That's terrible. I'm glad to hear that he isn't injured.
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Re: Anyone Know Anything About Satellite Phones?

Post by bigblockmatt »

very thankful he is alright. My brother inlaw is there now with the Army but thankfully should be heading home in 6 days!! hopefully it is a safe 6 days.

sorry, dont know anything about the phones. the brother in law actually does most of his talking with the rest of the world via facebook...
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