Renting Satellite Phone

[Alsatian]

Has anyone rented a satellite phone for use in remote areas lacking cell phone service? I am going on a solo backpacking trip to hunt elk in the Weminuche Wilderness area in SW Colorado and am looking at renting a satellite phone for a week. (Satellite phones do not use cell towers but satellites orbiting the earth and provide signals everywhere -- middle of the ocean, in the middle of a dessert, in a mountain wilderness.)

[Champlain Islander]

I have some experience with them. Last year 4 of us went to Newfoundland on a Caribou hunt and knew from past trips there wouldn't be any cell service since it is really remote. One of the group needed to stay in touch with home for various reasons and elected to rent a sat phone. I can report it worked perfectly and gave good quality service when needed. The unit was kind of large and wouldn"™t be a great unit for back packing but was fine for bringing to an outfitters lodge. It was about the size of the older bag type cell phones that were popular about 10 years ago. It had a battery that stayed charged for 10 days and a plug for recharging if needed. I hope this helps.

[DJanes1]

I have a hand held on my boat and boy is it handy. At times we are more than 100 miles offshore and call home like you were right next door. It does take them a while to lock into a satalit, and watch for any over head obstructions like heavy tree cover, or evan sometimes heavy cloud cover, rain, snow. They can interfere. Another nice thing, I happened to be out of the country in the third world when 9/11 happened. Could not get a phone line out to call home and check in. Pulled my sat phone out stood in the midle of a park and got a hold of all my loved ones. Watch your minuts though, they may take your first born son.