I'm glad that I didn't get rid of mine! I bought one from Orbcom circa 1999, and used it sailing from
Guam to
California. Worked great, and text has some advantages over voice. If you want to transmit a long part #, for example, text comes through 100% clearly, instead of repeating a 12-digit part number over and over on voice. Plus, you keep a
record of each text for your voyage
logs later on. Plus, nobody has to be home at the receiving end, since it will just drop an
email into their box. Really, it's a terrific option for staying in touch with home or with user groups. At $30 per month, I will sign up again for sure.
Make sure you get a new
battery pack if yours is a few years old. My only complaint was sailing from
Panama to FL the last time, the pack would not hold a charge. Very frustrating. But that was my fault for not
buying a new
battery pack for the device.