Iridium 9505a not connecting....
Submitted: Monday, May 30, 2016 at 19:34
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Member - Milton477
Hi folks,
I have purchased a 2nd hand Iridium 9505a with the intention of using it in an emergency with my Telstra NextG sim. I have international roaming activated & my plan is post paid.
When I power up the phone outside in full view of the sky, the phone variously tells me to "rotate the antenna", "searching....
check signal", "registering" but does not connect. The signal strength indicator will show 4 or 5 bars & then vanishes only to return a couple of seconds later before vanishing again.
I know that I am probably doing something stupid or have not read enough of the instructions but judging by some of the posts about how easy it is, I should be making calls by now.
Help anyone please.
Reply By: Member - Boobook - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 07:39
Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 07:39
Are you sure that it has international roaming, and not just international call capability? I mean really sure, not just 'Telstra confirmed it 'sure. If you have used it overseas then it will be ok.
My money is on it not having roaming enabled. For whatever reason you have to ask Telstra to do this 3 or 4 times before they get it right. Call them and tell them it isn't enabled. Also ask for 1900 access. Some people say you also need this.
Also in the burbs will be ok unless you are next to large buildings.
AnswerID:
600763
Reply By: Member - Milton477 - Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 17:49
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 17:49
So if I can use my phone to make calls while in another country, I presume that international roaming is active.
When I first installed the sim in the sat phone, it did not locate properly & the sat phone popped up a message that it could not find the sim. I re-seated the sim & now no error message.
Can someone who actually uses their telstra sim in a sat phone tell me what size the sim is.
Mine is the small sim & I have to put it in a regular size sim frame to make it fit my sat phone.
Is there a difference between small & regular sized sims?
AnswerID:
600817
Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 18:03
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 18:03
The 9505A uses a mini SIM. about 15mm x 25mm.
If you use a smaller SIM and an adapter then that is possibly your problem. Often the don't
seat the SIM properly. I have had a lot of problems with them.
Electrically the SIMs are the same, it is just the plastic surrounding the contacts that is different.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Milton477 - Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 20:23
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2016 at 20:23
Thanks Boobook. My sim is the micro sim & I use an adaptor to upsize to mini. I wonder if the position of the sim in the adaptor is not the problem.
I would still have thought that the phone would lock onto the satellites & show some sort of signal strength even if no sim was present.
FollowupID:
870182