Sat Phone rentals

[blighbaum]

Can anyone suggest a good place to rent an Irridium Sat phone? I am located in LA. Or do Sat phone rental stores ship the phones to customers in other parts of the country so that it doesn't matter where the custormer is? (My previous rentals have been from Cellular Phantasies in Santa Monica, but they are crummy and I'm not using them again.)

- Tom Kirschbaum, Feral

 

[BobJ]

I'm planning to rent mine here.

Besides being a helpful participant on our board, it appears Luis has all the necessary add-ons available for rent, not just the phone.

 

[tiger beetle]

Can anyone suggest a good place to rent an Irridium Sat phone? I am located in LA. Or do Sat phone rental stores ship the phones to customers in other parts of the country so that it doesn't matter where the custormer is? (My previous rentals have been from Cellular Phantasies in Santa Monica, but they are crummy and I'm not using them again.)

- Tom Kirschbaum, Feral

I have rented the satellite telephone from the Satphone Store in Florida - and it doesn't matter where you are in the country, the phone is FedEx'd in to Corinthian Yacht Club two days before race start. At least that's what I did when I rented the phone.

I would have been happier if the rental was local, as I could have stopped by the store to do the pick up and saved the immense last minute aggravation and hassle of discovering the connector between the phone and the marine external antenna was accidentally left out of the box... followed by the dash around San Rafael with The Surfing Anvil to locate an electronics store that had the necessary fitting.

- rob/beetle

 

[Submarino]

I was looking for that link for local Satellite rentals or purchase, but it's dead.

JB

 

[pogen]

OCENS -- these guys are good, competitive pricing, good support, understand our application.

http://www.ocens.com/

They ship overnight and answer the phone with a human, so you don't need local.

 

[BobJ]

Sub, that post was from 2008. The link was to Global Marine Networks, who no longer rent phones but are still in the business. A good combo is to use their e-mail service along with a three-month subscription to XGate for file compression:

http://www.globalmarinenet.com/xgate.php

I'll be renting a phone again this Summer and I'm also looking for suggestions for where to do that.

 

[DaveH]

I'd second the OCENS guys.
As Pogen said, they understood exactly the application and TALKED to me.
And they sent the rental kit out the same day I spoke to them.
as of a week ago, they only have the more expensive 9575 vs the 9550 in iridium rental inventory... I think I got the last of the cheap sets.

FWIW

DH

 

[BobJ]

(RIP to Tom, who started this thread and lost his life doing what we love.)

Tracy and I think we can get along without voice so maybe buying the In-Reach (at about the same cost as renting a satphone) is being considered. I'll check into it but in the meantime, did DeLorme get the GRIB download feature going yet? That's mostly why we want it (plus e-mails for checking in and to the home front). We'll have an SSB as primary.

Dave, kudos on the successful qualifier!

 

[DaveH]

Thanks Bob!

No Direct download for Gribs on the DeLorme system, at least as yet.

 

[Mewes]

Hmmm.

Seems like I read some links about how to use your SSB to download GRIBS WITHOUT PACTOR onto iPads.

I think Dirk and David had found a lot of stuff. Maybe I can search...

Yes, Tom, I miss you at Alameda Marina!