Thread: Weather and phones

I've had 2/2 bad experiences with Sat phones.

First trip it was really bad weather thick cloud and rain and it suffered from sattelite fade, like the old satellite TV (which was also droppping out that weekend I'm told. I'd get reception for less than a minute at a time before the sat would drift out of sight and it would cut out. Never successfully made a call due to texts going in and out as soon as it made contact. I was stuck behind a big river for an extra day and overall it caused a lot more worry than it could ever have saved. the lesson here is to only have ONE contact person you might call from your sat phone and they need to be 100% reliable and have nerves of steel.

Second time, we didn't try to use it but sent a text when we arrived to say we were in OK. It never arrived. The interface is clunky and nothing like using an android or even ios phone.

Data connectivity is sloweer than dial up so no smartphone / useable internet access, sorry.

Another good idea is to test it thoroughly at home before you go and then again once you're in the hills. Trouble is you don't want to pick it up a few days before because so expensive per day. Also calls cost $5 a minute plus GST and that's USD. So it discourages you from getting familiar with it.

So, good for the big jobs or if you've got someone with a medical condition but mostly in the hills you're on your own.


In a few situations you can get cell phone reception in the hills but it can vary from minute to minute. I often take my phone for taking pictures. I switch it to flight mode then power off. Takes a while to turn on for a pic but battery lasts a couple of days. Also, you can get a mobile power pack that will recharge an ordinary phone a couple of times.



Advice: look at the weather map before you go, learn to read weather and the sky and trust yourself. Prepare for the worst and hope for good weather. I the old days people went into the hills to get down to the simple life without gadgets but maybe not any more.