Iridium cheaper than eircom / Vodafone!! fact

Honda08

hi folks, this is v interesting, was calling my brother who is overseas in africa ( lucky fecker) using eircom landline, eircom were charging over 2 euros per minute to call, and the same with vodafone, mad money........

so i whipped out my trusty iridium 9555 and it only costs $1.25 / €0.97.. per min to call.

what rip off...... with eircom and voda charging huge money....

how can voda/eircom justify their prices when Iridium offers the same at over 50% cheaper!!!:D

:mad: to eircom/voda:mad:

Davy

Thats a crazy amount to pay. Use something like 13434.ie. Calls for most countries are only 1cent a minute from your landline. You can also set it up to use it from your mobile and slightly dearer rates.

Tom Dunne

Honda08 wrote: »

so i whipped out my trusty iridium 9555 and it only costs $1.25 / €0.97.. per min to call.

Is there any other charge? Such as a call setup, line rental, minimum call charge, service charge, etc.?

If not, why aren't we all using satellite phones?

Honda08

Al O'Peica wrote: »

Is there any other charge? Such as a call setup, line rental, minimum call charge, service charge, etc.?

If not, why aren't we all using satellite phones?

well i pay $37 usd per month line rental.
calls anywhere $1.25 per minute..no setup fee.

iridium to iridium is 60 cents usd........);

with eircom and voda prices it just shows you rip off Ireland is alive and well!

rebel.ranter

Why don't you just sign up for Skype or Blueface? They are definitely cheaper.

Honda08

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Why don't you just sign up for Skype or Blueface? They are definitely cheaper.

skype doesent work, latency is too high......so it wouldnt be a runner.

internet is non existant except for iridium / satellite based internet at the far end.

);

Tom Dunne

Honda08 wrote: »

well i pay $37 usd per month line rental.
calls anywhere $1.25 per minute..no setup fee.

Ouch, that's a bit pricey. 28 Euro a month or so?

Can you send texts with a satellite phone? Are they cheap/expensive?

Honda08 wrote: »

with eircom and voda prices it just shows you rip off Ireland is alive and well!

I disagree. If you factor in the line rental, plus deals the operators have here on calls within Ireland, they are not as bad as you are making out.

Honda08

Al O'Peica wrote: »

Ouch, that's a bit pricey. 28 Euro a month or so?

Can you send texts with a satellite phone? Are they cheap/expensive?



I disagree. If you factor in the line rental, plus deals the operators have here on calls within Ireland, they are not as bad as you are making out.

so you think over 2 euro a minute to call a foreign country is good value?:D
the issue i raised was making a call to a foreign country.

yes you can send email etc direct from the phone,

Davy

Al O'Peica wrote: »

Ouch, that's a bit pricey. 28 Euro a month or so?

I disagree. If you factor in the line rental, plus deals the operators have here on calls within Ireland, they are not as bad as you are making out.

Eircom landline is €25 a month, so less than the iridim subscription

Honda08 wrote: »

so you think over 2 euro a minute to call a foreign country is good value?:D
the issue i raised was making a call to a foreign country.

Using a normal eircom landline + 13434.ie is cheaper than using iridim making a call to a foreign country. Calls are 1cent against 97cent

Honda08

Davy wrote: »

Eircom landline is €25 a month, so less than the iridim subscription




Using a normal eircom landline + 13434.ie is cheaper than using iridim making a call to a foreign country. Calls are 1cent against 97cent

well thats fair enough, but i was comparing operator against operator not a mix of 2 different ones, just to make a call..

Our man in Havana

How much is the phone to buy?

Honda08

Bond-007 wrote: »

How much is the phone to buy?

paid just short of $1600 usd for it.


if youre buying via the net, from usa , add vat at 21.5% to it, and duty at around 13% to above

towel401

the 9555 is a fairly daycent phone but i wouldnt use one over here.

thuraya eco sim is even cheaper - 39c to any country except a couple of unpopular ones. a lot of these countries in africa have corrupt government telco monopolies and charge a fortune for interconnect so not a whole lot will be saved using VoiP or the like

is it not cheaper to get the 500 minute prepaid thing on iridium rather than paying the line rental?

Ah-Watch

why not dial 0818242424 from your landline or 1530300300 and then enter the destination number. from your mobile itll cost about 30c and from your landline it'll be about 6c a min:) works great from eircom landlines and vodafone mobiles:)

towel401

Ah-Watch wrote: »

why not dial 0818242424 from your landline or 1530300300 and then enter the destination number. from your mobile itll cost about 30c and from your landline it'll be about 6c a min:) works great from eircom landlines and vodafone mobiles:)

are those things any good? i remember using one last year and the quality was fairly brutal and you had to pay to listen to the phone ring...

Tom Dunne

Honda08 wrote: »

so you think over 2 euro a minute to call a foreign country is good value?:D
the issue i raised was making a call to a foreign country.

No, no. I fully agree over €2 a minute is expensive.

However, when you factor in the cost of a satellite handset at around €1200, it does cast a different light on the matter.

Honda08

Al O'Peica wrote: »

No, no. I fully agree over €2 a minute is expensive.

However, when you factor in the cost of a satellite handset at around €1200, it does cast a different light on the matter.

well i already had the phone, so thats not an issue..

the issue here is why are eircom / voda charging so high to make a call to a foreign country, and a satellite operator can do it over 50% cheaper!

Honda08

towel401 wrote: »

the 9555 is a fairly daycent phone but i wouldnt use one over here.

thuraya eco sim is even cheaper - 39c to any country except a couple of unpopular ones. a lot of these countries in africa have corrupt government telco monopolies and charge a fortune for interconnect so not a whole lot will be saved using VoiP or the like

is it not cheaper to get the 500 minute prepaid thing on iridium rather than paying the line rental?

the thuraya phone doesent work all over the world... the iridium does!

the 500min card expires after 12 months, and if you dont top up in time you loose the unused minutes.. believe it or not the monthly bill works out cheaper than the 500min prepaid... and with the monthly bill, the sim never gets deactivated..and you get cheaper per min rate with the monthly bill..

Guy:Incognito

Honda08 wrote: »

the issue here is why are eircom / voda charging so high to make a call to a foreign country, and a satellite operator can do it over 50% cheaper!

Why can anyone in any walk of life do anythign cheaper than someone else?

Honda08 wrote: »

well i already had the phone, so thats not an issue..!

Unless they are giving them out for free then yes it very much is an issue. Buying a €50 PAYG phone will leave you a lot of callls before you make up the difference in price of the phone alone.

towel401

Stekelly wrote: »

Why can anyone in any walk of life do anythign cheaper than someone else?



Unless they are giving them out for free then yes it very much is an issue. Buying a €50 PAYG phone will leave you a lot of callls before you make up the difference in price of the phone alone.

an oldskool iridium phone doesn't cost that much anymore. and will be collectors items in a few years time since they're the first handheld satphones

Our man in Havana

Where could I get one?

towel401

ebay

Honda08

Bond-007 wrote: »

Where could I get one?

are you after new or second hand?

be careful with ebay, lots of well used refurbished models there being sold as second hand.....not a great bargain really

if you frequent the us a bit, loads of places to buy, and save a packet.

check www.iridium.com for international dealer list