Outfitter Satellite rents and sells state-of-the-art satellite phones that operate on four major satellite networks, covering various regions of the globe. All our rental equipment is tested by a qualified technician before it is sent to you. Our sales and technical support staff can help you select the best phone for your application. After that, it is up to you to:
1. Understand the real capabilities of your equipment.
2. Follow the operating instructions.
3. Make your first call using the satellite phone before travelling to any remote location. Contact us immediately for technical support if you have trouble.

Iridium: What should you expect?

UNDERSTANDING IRIDIUM: Iridium provides voice, SMS, and data service over the entire globe, including the polar caps. The only exceptions are countries that have requested that Iridium voluntarily block its service within all or parts of their borders (North Korea and sometimes northern Sri Lanka do not have service). Iridium operates a large number of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites spanning the globe in various polar orbits. An Iridium phone uses L-band frequencies so you must be in direct line-of-sight with an Iridium satellite in order make a call.

The ideal situation is to be on flat ground surrounded by no obstructions that block more than 15 degrees of elevation above the horizon. Mountains, trees, buildings or other obstructions may block some or all of the satellites causing brief periods without service. If there is an area nearby that is less obstructed, you may find it more effective to make Iridium calls from that location. Iridium phones are capable of making calls in most weather conditions. When you call a public switched telephone number (PSTN), your call is routed from satellite to satellite until it reaches the Iridium gateway in Arizona. From there it is routed to the final PSTN number. If during your call, the satellite moves behind an obstruction such as a mountain peak, your call can be passed to a different satellite, but often the call is unexpectedly terminated. Fortunately, the Iridium satellites are always moving, so if you lose signal another satellite should be along in a short time. Wait until your phone's signal strength indicator shows at least 3 bars of signal strength and dial again. Iridium uses aggressive voice compression so Iridium voice quality is only fair.

IRIDIUM DATA SERVICES: Iridium usually is not the best choice for customers intending to transmit large amounts of data. It only offers a 2400 bps data rate, which corresponds to about 1 MegaByte (MB) an hour. This means Iridium is suitable for light data applications such as text-based email or telemetry but should not be your first choice for data-intensive applications such as transmitting digital photos. Outfitter Satellite offers the SkyFile email service with easy to use filtering, excellent compression, and "Crash & Recovery". That last feature lets you transmit even large email attachments despite call drops during the internet session. SkyFile simply prompts you to make another call and then automatically continues your internet session where you left off. Though SkyFile makes it possible to transmit large files, Iridium is not the most economical and certainly not the fastest satellite network. If your application is data intensive, please consider our Inmarsat terminals, which offer both high speed and better economy per MB transmitted.

BASIC TROUBLESHOOTING: If there are no tall obstructions blocking more than 15 degrees of elevation above the horizon, you should have very few periods without service and those periods will tend to be very brief (ie minutes). Even under these conditions, unexpected call drops will occur, and the user agrees to understand this when he or she chooses to use Iridium service. Here are some common user errors and what you can do about them:

1. Many customer support calls turn out to be due to wrong dialing sequences. Please re-read the helpsheet instructions to make sure that you are dialing correctly. The dialing sequence is 00 plus the country code and phone number. For example, to call Outfitter Satellite, dial 0016158898833.
2. Some customers have trouble calling "in" to the Iridium phone. There are two ways to do this: dialing the direct number and using "two-stage" dialing.
   • Dialing Direct: To call the Iridium phone from a land-based phone in the U.S. you would dial 011 to get the international operator and then the 12 digit Iridium mobile number. The calling party would pay for this call based on their arrangement with their own long-distance carrier for the land-based phone, and the calling party should be aware that long-distance carriers often bill as much as $8 to $20 per minute. There is no charge by Outfitter Satellite to your Iridium account.
   • Dialing Two-Stage: This is generally the most economical way to call an Iridium phone. From the U.S., dial 1 480 768 2500. This is a number in Arizon that lets you connect into Iridium's two-stage dialing platform. When the platform answers, it will ask you to enter the 12-digit Iridium phone number. This type of call will be billed to the Iridium phone account based on your contract with Outfitter Satellite. The rate is usually similar to the rate for outbound calls from the Iridium to public switched telephone numbers.
3. Always verify that the Iridium phone has actually registered on the network and that you have at least 3 bars of signal before making calls. Registration is indicated by the appearance of a small icon that looks like a "house" at the bottom of the screen.
4. If you are experiencing a lot of call drops or poor sound quality, you probably have inadequate signal strength. One common problem is that the antenna is not properly seated in the phone's antenna port. If the antenna seems loose, gently rotate it so that it is aligned along the back of the phone (in the stowed position). There is an "antenna release button" at the top of the phone next to the antenna port. To seat the antenna, depress this button while gently pushing the antenna into position. Release the button when the antenna is seated. Verify that the antenna now rotates easily but does not appear loose. For additional assistance see the helpsheet supplied with the phone or call our technical support. Always be careful with the antenna, as it and the antenna port are delicate and can be damaged easily.
5. If you are around mountains, trees, or other tall obstructions you may experience an increase in the duration and frequency of signal loss. Obstructions tend to block direct line-of-sight from the satellites to your position. Be patient! Waiting a few minutes until the satellites have moved clear of the obstructions again usually will enable you to make calls. If it is convenient, you can also move to a nearby area with less tall obstructions before making calls. If you hope to make long duration or high sound quality calls, Iridium is not the right choice. If you need truly global voice communication for occasional brief calls, Iridium is a correct choice. Dropped calls and poor sound quality can be frustrating but some of this is inherent to the Iridium service -- especially when you use it in mountainous or wooded areas, and you accept this when you choose to use the Iridium service. Making sure you have a good position without obstructions and good signal strength before initiating calls will help reduce dropped calls and improve sound quality.
6. Electromagnetic interference, such as from nearby radio transmitters, can cause problems. Move a larger distance away from the transmitter and try again.
7. Low battery level can cause the phone to operate poorly. Keep your batteries charged. If the phone is operated in a high temperature environment the phone might display a "temperature out of range for charging" or "Invalid Battery" message. If the phone is positioned on a black surface (such as asphalt) in direct strong sunlight, the temperature near the surface can be remarkably hot. Obviously, the solution is to cool the phone down.
8. If you are having trouble with data calls or internet access, call our technical support staff using the phone number indicated on your paperwork. Since computer support calls can take a moderate amount of time, we strongly recommend that you resolve computer setup issues before leaving for a remote location. Although you must take ultimate responsibility for understanding your own computer equipment, we have excellent staff that can support most Windows and Macintosh operating systems and normally can get you underway as long as you have all the necessary physical hardware and software. Technical support of this type is free to our customers: you only pay for the satellite airtime while you are getting the support. This is another good reason to seek our technical support before you go to a remote location and must use the satellite phone to contact us!

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