data-csrf="1711675295,fccee101b79d944b15b118538b766865" Iridium Extreme Sat Phone Woes | As Real As It Gets

Iridium Extreme Sat Phone Woes

SnowshoeWalker

Well-known member
Oct 1, 2018
193
9
Alaska
I have been using an Iridium Extreme phone the past 5-6 years and the thing just sucks. It connects and I get a minute, possibly more of talk time and then it drops calls. Sometimes it'll link back up and get a good enough signal to talk again, sometimes it takes up to 30 minutes to connect. I've used it all over Alaska with continuous lousy results. A few weeks ago, not far from Sitka, the coverage was the worst I've seen. My older 9555 model never had issues like this newer phone. Anyone else have problems with the Extreme model? I'm contemplating selling the thing and getting the Iridium Go. Then I can just use my cell phone to text and talk by Wi-Fi'ing into the Go. Ideas, thoughts????
 

cwh

Administrator
Nov 18, 2007
4,574
99
Anchorage
Never used an extreme. Have had so many issues with sat phones that I don't really trust them, but I always blamed it on geography. Bummer to hear that the latest and greatest isn't.
 

SnowshoeWalker

Well-known member
Oct 1, 2018
193
9
Alaska
I always get the same pathetic excuse from the folks I buy my minutes from.
- Make sure the phone has the latest updates
- Try to get out into an "open" area
- Extend the antenna

It's a bunch of BS I think. I might have to go back to the older phone model as the thing was waaaayyyyy more reliable. That was probably during a time when they had less satellites in the sky too. The girl I spoke to this morning suggested I sell my phone and buy a new one. She wasn't interested in buying mine for full price....go figure...