This is my understanding of the options:
a) Caller direct dials to the Iridium country code. Their carrier usually charges them an obscene ($10/minute) rate.
b) Caller uses a prepaid international calling card with a good Iridium rate. Last time I checked these were more reasonable but still way expensive (~$3/minute). These are marketed to relatives of people who
work on merchant ships.
c) Two stage dialing. Caller dials an Arizona number, then when the British lady talks, dials your Iridium number. Charges are reversed to you (the Iridium account holder)
d) 800 number. You pay for an 800 number to be setup (only available with some Iridium resellers). Charges are reversed to you. There is a small monthly fee for this.
I ran my business from the
Sea of Cortez for a little while, and this was my system:
- 800 number with a virtual PBX
service. This is the number I gave people.
- I set the "No Answer" option to forward to a voicemail transcription
service, configured that to
email the transcriptions to the
boat and send a text to the Iridium phone (free).
- When in port, I forwarded the virtual PBX to either a Skype Incoming number or a
cell phone that was roaming (at the time Verizon had a "North America" plan which gave me a good roaming rate)
- When someplace rural, I forwarded the virtual PBX to an Iridium 800 number.
I think these days
Google Voice may handle forwarding and transcription in one service.