Calls from the wild

This week, the Financial Times ran an excellent review of the Iridium 9555. The conclusion is that the 9555 is “without a doubt the best” satellite phone the reporter has ever used. He touts the improved capabilities and size and recognizes the importance of communication in remote areas of the world.

Financial Times
4.16.09
Paul Taylor

One of the most reliable mobile phones I ever owned was a Kyocera handset that seemed able to pluck a wireless signal out of the proverbial “thin air” and survived years of use and misuse until my youngest daughter managed to crack its miniscule screen.
The downside of that era, in which form often trumped function, was that the Kyocera was an ugly beast. Shaped like a jumbo Mars bar, it was more likely to elicit hoots of laughter than admiring glances from passers-by.
A decade later, the Iridium 9555, the latest satellite phone, is also unlikely to win any beauty shows. But it represents a leap forward both in capability and size. The 9555 is about 30 per cent smaller and 27 per cent lighter than its predecessor, the 9505a. It measures 143mm in length by 55mm in width, has a depth of 30mm and weighs 266g.

Like other Iridium handsets, the 9555, which costs about $1,600 with accessories, is designed to work with Iridium’s network of 66 Leo (low Earth orbit) satellites that enable users, including geologists, explorers, rescue workers and business travellers to remote areas, to make voice or data calls from virtually anywhere on Earth. (Calls cost between about $1 and $2 a minute, depending on the service plan.)
If you need a versatile satellite phone and can justify the rather steep initial cost, the Iridium 9555 is without doubt the best device I have used
While the 9555’s rugged handset is designed for tough environments, the phone will also appeal to general users and includes a number of significant improvements, among them a bigger, brighter display and an antenna that retracts into the handset body rather than rotating and swinging upward to a vertical position.
The 9555 also delivers improved audio quality, an integrated speakerphone, better SMS and e-mail messaging capabilities, and an upgraded mini USB data port, which, together with new software, makes data communications and internet access easier. Although data transmission speed is still rather slow at 9,600 baud (a measure of data transmission rates), it is acceptable for e-mail and basic web browsing when there is no other available service.
The design of the Iridium system also makes it highly secure – perhaps one of the reasons why use is restricted in some countries. I found the 9555 as easy to use as a standard mobile phone, and coverage is good, even in areas where ordinary cellular handsets do not work, provided you are outside and have a clear line of sight to the sky.
The only difficulty I encountered was installing the USB driver software needed to use the handset as a modem, which took longer than it should have.
Overall, if you need a versatile satellite phone and can justify the rather steep initial cost, the Iridium 9555 is without doubt the best device I have used.