Thuraya satellite phone on South Pacific

[tuskie]

Hi,
Looking at sat phones and similar for data and voice comms. Cruising grounds will be out to New Caledonia, Solomons and Vanuatu from our base in Australia.

Considering a few options including Iridium Go! and Thuraya Satsleeve. The Go! Is reportedly very slow for data and Iridium network can lose satellites in equatorial regions.
Thuraya is cheaper and faster, but New Cal and Vanuatu are at edge of coverage map. Not sure how this translates to actual useability.

Has anyone got any real experience of satellite phone connectivity and quality/speed of comms in this region?