Quote:
Originally Posted by SV Demeter
Im looking at used Iridium phones on Ebay mostly 9500 series phones and Im wondering what I need to be on th elook out for? Assuming I get a phone that is not broken is there anything special about these that I need to look out for? Im assuming (dangerous I know) that once I have the phone itself its a matter of buying a prepaid sim card or setting up a service plan with someone like the satphone store. As always your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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I did just that a few years ago, , bought two each for about $300 dollars.
Sold one to a friend, the various wars since have eaten up a lot of used units. But now that should ease again soon.
The 9500 is fine, it's not waterproof or splash proof if you can pick up a
dock as well all the better. I picked up a second hand rail mounted external
antenna as well. I keep the phone and the accessories in a peli case. I have it now for about 8 years no issues. Use it several times a year. I have a very accommodating service provider that activates and deactivates my account as needs. I wish the iridium prepay was more flexible as I,d use that , but I keep finding I run out of time with loads of minutes remaining.
Note many versions of the 9500 need a firmware upgrade to use the data option, that's often why they don't
work. Not sure if there is a USB option now as the
serial is a pain. I beleive some 9505 accessories fit the 9500.
In my experience a good workhorse of a phone. Note you can receive SMS messages but you can't send them. ( though funnily on my I get notifications of such messages , but when I try to read them I can't !!).
Dave