DO I DIAL A LOCAL NUMBER WHEN CALLING FROM A SATELLITE PHONE?

In this article I want to answer one of the most common questions I get from anyone looking into satellite phones in Australia,

“Do I dial a local number when calling from a satellite phone”?

At the time of writing, the two networks that are available in Australia are Thuraya and Iridium.This question has a variety of answers. Sorry, I know nothing to do with satellite phones seems simple.Rather than going into each retailer’s airtime plans and what they offer, as this alone is a minefield, my objective here is to give you an overview of the topic. You should check with your provider about their individual methods.

The Thuraya network is a funny one. I have personally used them remotely and just dialled a local number and got through without a problem. I dialled the territory code and the number and hey presto, I got connected.Then a few weeks later I tried exactly the same thing while in Tom Price in the north of Western Australia and got a message from a man speaking in a foreign language. As I was in a different country to him I dialled the familiar 0061 89…and got through straight away.

So from my experience, if you are not with Optus with your Thuraya satellite phone then try it. If it doesn’t work resort to the standard global codes.If you are with Optus you should be able to just dial a local number. This is because it goes through their exchange. This all sound good, but beware. In our experience when a satellite phone goes through a local exchange you can quite often be charged when someone phones you.

For incoming calls on Thuraya, however, you will be given an international code and phone number, and that’s what people will use to call you from their landline or mobile phone.

This attracts international or special satellite call rates from your phone provider so check with them about their charges.Now, things do not get any easier with Iridium.

The straight answer is that Iridium have their own network and their own designated telephone numbers. So after dialling the international code 0011, let’s say it’s for Australia, you would dial 61, then the number 0 (do you dial the 0? In another article I think you say you don’t. Do you mean “..dial 61, then the number. Leave out the 0 of the area code”??).

If you were dialling the Iridium satellite phone from a landline or a mobile telephone you would dial 0011 88 then the rest of the number. This just means that 88 is their country code, just like 61 is Australia’s.

The second part to this answer is that a number of dealers offer local numbers for their Iridium satellite phones and service.We are one of those, Telstra and Pivotel do also.So, what the advantages of a local number and why have one? Well there are two reasons why this can be useful but there is a catch. On this one it’s cost.
The truth, as discussed earlier, is the satellite phone has its own number so to add a local exchange number and have it go through that exchange, making it seem like a standard local number, costs you. The cost can be and often is hidden in a barrage of bull in the provider’s airtime plans.

The most common one hidden cost if you add the local number feature (?) is that the service provider will charge you for incoming calls, whereas if you stay with the standard satellite number there’s no exchange charge, thus making it cheaper.

In our experience the main benefit of having this local number feature (?) addition on your Iridium phone is if your company has international calls barred from its landlines. A local exchange number means you can be called from (??) the office.

There are a number of large organisations that block international calls from its landlines, so it’s always worth checking if your satellite phone can be called from your office phones.In our experience less than 15% of consumers are willing to pay the extra charge for this feature.

To summarise, unless you get the local number (?) extra feature, when dialling a satellite phone from a landline or mobile phone you will be

dialling, for example for Western Australia, 0011 88 9XXX XXXX; and when dialling from a satellite phone to a landline you will dial, for example for Western Australia, 0061 8 9XXX XXXX.

I trust you found this information useful. If you’d like to know anything more about satellite phones and how to use them, please contact us. We’ll be happy to help you.

See our website for more free advice and to learn all you need to know about satellite phones.

Visit www.SatellitePhoneSales.com.au or call us on 1300 197 600.