Choosing a satellite phone
There are about a dozen satphones on sale in the UK. This narrows them down to the right one for you in under five minutes.
Start with where, not what
The single biggest filter is coverage. Decide where the phone needs to work, and the network is half-decided.
- Anywhere on Earth, including poles → Iridium
- Anywhere except the poles → Inmarsat or Iridium
- EMEA, Asia, Australia → Thuraya (and GSM fallback is a bonus)
- Americas / regional → Globalstar
If “I don’t know where I’ll be” is the honest answer, you want Iridium.
Then think about how you’ll use it
| Use pattern | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Occasional voice calls, peace of mind | IsatPhone 2 or Iridium 9555 |
| Heavy field use, rugged conditions | Iridium 9575 Extreme |
| Smartphone-via-satellite, team comms | Iridium GO! exec |
| Pocketable for travel | Thuraya XT-PRO |
| Two-way messenger with SOS | SPOT X or Garmin inReach |
| Field broadband (laptop, email, video) | Inmarsat BGAN Explorer 510 / 710 |
Buying vs renting
If you’ll use it more than three weeks per year, buy. If it’s for a single trip, rent. The maths is rarely close. See rental options →.
What about airtime?
Pick the device first. The airtime conversation comes second and depends entirely on how often you’ll be using it.
- One trip: prepaid voucher, expires after 30/180/365 days
- Regular use: monthly plan with bundled minutes
- Standby device: annual low-cost plan with high per-minute rate
- Fleet: pooled plan across multiple SIMs
We’ll help
This is a list of tradeoffs, not a calculator. Tell us the trip, the team, the budget — we’ll come back with a recommendation. Get a written quote →