Anybody use a Satellite Phone?

Now that my group of guys are all family men, we are feeling uncomfortable when we leave for 8 day trips with no possibility of communication.
Last year, I was deep in the Temagami bush when a Search and Rescue helicopter appeared and was headed over the lake straight for us. My heart skipped about 3 beats until it continued on without stopping.
I could tell it made the rest of the guys uneasy as well. Nobody wanted to hear "Are you the XXX party?" through a loudspeaker as it stopped and hovered.

So now we're looking into bringing a satellite phone just to have piece of mind.
Can we rent them? Would you buy one?
Any insight into what this involves? Do you need some form of a plan? Pay per usage?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

MG

One of the guys at moose camp has one. You would think communication is guaranteed as it has been for years now... However, this past year we were hunting Armstrong and we were only able to get sat hook up 1 night for the whole week. GPS on the devices were working fine so I can only assume there were problems with the carrier as the phone had troubles connecting to the required satellites.

I don't know much about the plan other then he owns the phone and gets prepaid minutes like the old days of cell phones....

And yes, they are nice to have for emergency. Just don't let the wife know our you'll be expected to call home in certain intervals and then they worry when you don't call...

We rented them when we went caribou hunting. I forget how much it was but we split among the group. Not a bad thing at all to have.

My wife would go with the whole "no news is good news".
It would simply be for home to get in touch with us in the event of an emergency.
In which case, would we have to leave it powered on constantly? What good is it without an answering machine that you could check periodically?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by terrym

We rented them when we went caribou hunting.

---

Where from?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by muskokaguy

My wife would go with the whole "no news is good news".
It would simply be for home to get in touch with us in the event of an emergency.
In which case, would we have to leave it powered on constantly? What good is it without an answering machine that you could check periodically?

---

If it's not on it doesn't work, however, I do believe you can receive text messages that you'd get when you turned it on.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JeffBondar

If it's not on it doesn't work, however, I do believe you can receive text messages that you'd get when you turned it on.

---

Text messages only would be PERFECT.
Turn it on before bed. No texts? Turn it off.
I have never seen one. Thought it only had phone capabilities.

I use a SPOT
Not a satellite phone, but it has an alert system if you need assistance. Look them up - could be a cheaper alternative. I use it all the time to send text messages to my safety people whenever I hunt or fish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buzz Killington

I use a SPOT
Not a satellite phone, but it has an alert system if you need assistance. Look them up - could be a cheaper alternative. I use it all the time to send text messages to my safety people whenever I hunt or fish.

---

The new ones even allow you to "text" pre set messages, track your path and press for an airlift if required. SPOT now also offers satellite phone. Take a look at them?

FishFrenzy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FishFrenzy

The new ones even allow you to "text" pre set messages, track your path and press for an airlift if required. SPOT now also offers satellite phone. Take a look at them?

FishFrenzy

---

Thanks to both you and Buzz K.
I will definitely check it out. Hopefully the "press for an airlift" isn't easy to go off accidentally.