Satellite Phone Rental?

[taz223]

Got an upcoming expedition to Colorado for a winter ascent of Longs Peak coming up next month. Looking into rental of a satellite phone for emergency purposes only. The first website that popped up was www.mobal.com, and they are offering:

$12 per day for Motorola Iridium phone. No deposit, free shipping, etc. $1.99/minute for calls, billed after 15 days or $100 usage. As I said, its only going to be for emergency purposes, so in theory, we'd just be out the rental cost plus maybe a summit phone call.

Does anyone have any input regarding this company, or any others for short-term (4-5 days) satellite phone rental?

Thanks in advance for any input or help!

Matt

[mhiscox]

Matt,

Your proposed plan is one that I've done a few times on remote vehicle trips . . . the phone is basically $x/day insurance against a serious problem. The best result is if you never get anything for your money.

In my case, I was able to find a local communications company in Portland that rented them for $10/day, so that's a little cheaper but I had to pick it up and drop it off. Don't know if you'd have a local option. The phone's easy enough to use, though it seems a bit bigger than you'd expect based on cell phones. (Of course, the whole concept is implausible magic, so who can complain?)

I would add that I find the sat phone to be a big improvement over the SPOT or EPIRB units. I don't know about climbing, but at least on a vehicle trip, there are a thousand potential problems that fit between "all's well" and "rescue me." Having two-way communications can really help. (The new Delorme InReach seems very promising for this reason.)

[taz223]

Thanks for the reply, good to hear from someone else whose shared a rental experience. I sent an email to the rental company with a few specific questions regarding usage, hopefully theyll reply shortly. I would much rather use a local company but unfortunately there aren't any that I can locate in southeastern OK, north TX (without driving to Dallas).

We have a couple sat phones at work on our MPV and in our command trailer but I don't think I can convince the Chief to let me borrow one

Interesting that you mention the SPOT/EPRB units, as I had considered just buying one of these units instead, but again, the ability to actually relay pertinent information in the event of an incident (injuries, status, special needs, etc.) just isn't there with the SPOT service.

If I do go through with the rental from that particular company I will definitely post up a review on the forum so others can see how well it worked out/didn't. Thanks again for the input!

[Simp801]

I used Mobal on a trip last year and it was prefect. They shipped the phone in a small pelican case with all the accessories. It even had a rooftop antenna that I used whenever we were in the vehicle. One nice thing was that the phone had voicemail. This came in handy if the phone was off or did not have reception. I only used it a few times and the bill was not to bad. Just remember there are two ways people can call the phone.

1) They call the phone directly and it treated like international rate for the caller.
2) They call an arizona number then input your number, this way the caller gets no extra charges, but you pay 1.99 per minute on your end.

[cruiseroutfit]

Can't comment on Mobal however here is a Utah local option we've utilized for different projects:
http://skycallsatellite.com/

[TheJosh]

Please post up what route you went and how it worked out after your trip.

Im planning on renting one also for a trip in April on the Mojave road

[HillbillyfromAL]

The Iridium is a decent sat phone, but if they give you the option of an external antenna take it. Weather seems to affect sat phones even with a perfectly clear view of the sky. That's just been my experience with them.

[Mashurst]

I have a great experience with Roadpost. Very accommodating and handy. Phone performance was excellent.

[kb7our]

Watching this thread for sat phone rental options, especially any recommendations in the Scottdale/Phoenix area for local pick up and return. Planning a trip to the N rim of the GC part of the summer and it would be good to have the phone for emergencies.