SATELLITE PHONE QUESTION

Submitted: Monday, Feb 01, 2010 at 23:06

ThreadID: 75691 Views:4935 Replies:5 FollowUps:6

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Handheld Satellite Phone Solutions for Travellers

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Member - reggy 2 (VIC)

I just brought a Irridium motorola satellite phone model 9500 does anybody know if a next g phone sim card works in this model I tried mine and all I got was invalid account I know it works in a 9505 model
cheers reggy 2

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Reply By: Member - John (Vic) - Monday, Feb 01, 2010 at 23:48

Monday, Feb 01, 2010 at 23:48

Enable International roaming and try again??

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Follow Up By: Member - Graeme W (NSW) - Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 09:21

Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 09:21

It also can't be a prepaid card and make sure it doesn't have 1900 calls barred.

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Reply By: Ozhumvee - Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 09:27

Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 09:27

Yes they do work on a 9500, must be on a plan/account(not prepaid), have international roaming enabled by Telstra (can take a while depending on the "consultant" you get when you ring them).
Of course you have to have the whole old style card, use sticky tape to hold the sim back in the surround.

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Reply By: RobertHL. (SEQ) - Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 22:08

Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 22:08

i've had mine 9505 with plan & int. roaming for near 12 months now & it still come up as INVALID account so i don't know what else i can do unless you have to be on the higher plans????????

Cheers,

Bob.

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Follow Up By: Who was that again? (Vic) - Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 22:31

Tuesday, Feb 02, 2010 at 22:31

Never had a trouble with mine with Global Roaming enabled. Went from a GSM to a Next G sim cards and never a trouble. Perhaps having your phone on a plan is the problem with the electronic IMEI number transmitted, and being bound to that account. Is it unlocked?

The plan would have little to do with the charges as they are all overseas rated, you are expected to pay, so your payment history would be the tell tale for Telstra.

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Reply By: Member - reggy 2 (VIC) - Thursday, Feb 04, 2010 at 20:47

Thursday, Feb 04, 2010 at 20:47

Hi all
thanks for input I will refer back to our local shop with these suggestions I will put an update on later
cheers reggy2

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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:09

Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:09

A waste of time going to a Telstra shop. They probably wont know what a satfone is.

Has it occured to you to try other sim cards in the phone to see if its the sim or the phone.

Seems the logical thing to do.

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Follow Up By: Member - reggy 2 (VIC) - Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 21:46

Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 21:46

hi graham h
I put a blank card in and it said they same then i put in a registered irredium card and it came up as it should
an answer came back above from RobertHL said he has invalid acc coming up on his but did not say whether he was getting through i presume he must be I might try myself
cheers reggy2

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Reply By: Geoff (Newcastle, NSW) - Thursday, Feb 04, 2010 at 21:38

Thursday, Feb 04, 2010 at 21:38

Hi reggy 2,
Invalid Account on an Iridium is a sign of either a SIM from a non-Telstra or non-Iridium partnered supplier or a SIM setup incorrectly.

Basically in Australia you need a Telstra SIM definitely Not Pre-Paid and with absolutely everything enabled.

If the SIM is banned from Any service by Helstra you'll get the Invalid Account error.

Don't tell anyone but I bought a SIM card reader-writer off eBay complete with software and cloned my Helstra SIM so that I don't have to swap the SIM back and forth between the terrestrial and the satellite networked phones.

All I need to do is ensure one is either switched off or out of range when the other sparks up and life is easy. If they both joined the network at the same time Helstra would immediately lock the account.

Geoff

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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 08:14

Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 08:14

Which supplier has writers that work with Aussie SIMs.

Where do you get blank SIMs.

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Follow Up By: Geoff (Newcastle, NSW) - Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:00

Friday, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:00

Hi Mike,
This is the unit I bought: SIM Reader-Writer

I also bought some extra SIM cards from here: Blank SIM Cards

The software I used is called "SIM Emulator"

Hope that helps,

Geoff

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