Satellite Phone Rentals Do you often travel abroad? Then you know how difficult it can be to get a high-quality satellite phone for global overseas use. Fortunately, with recent developments in mobile communications, there's a new solution. Thanks to our site, you can save time and money by renting satellite phones for global overseas communication when you travel abroad! Check out our selection of available satellite GSM phones to choose from! For your further convenience, we offer convenient links to the manufacturers' web pages, where you can directly download the manual(s) for the phones we sell. You can download most manuals in English and many other languages. All of the GSM mobile phones we offer include FREE incoming e-mail and text messaging, up to 120 characters long! Planning a cruise and need to stay in touch? At low rates per minute, you can forget about worrying whether your family, friends or associates will not be able to get in touch with you! The satellite phones we offer work in 86% of the world, the middle of deserts, at sea, on top of mountains and furthermore, our regular GSM works in more than 170 countries around the world! Furthermore, with your Iridium hand-held satellite phone, your calls are really inexpensive!!! You can get international roaming SIM cards through GTE, Cingular, AT&T, Voicestream, etc. Thus, you can have a US phone number even when you are abroad. And if you want to save money, you can always choose to get a prepaid SIM card for the country of your destination.

Country-specific SIM Cards are the best way to achieve greater savings. Calls made with the pre-paid country-specific SIM cards are inexpensive, whether local or international. Furthermore, incoming calls are FREE! With a Prepaid SIM card, you can add money whenever you want, and you'll be able to receive calls even if your air time is expired in most countries around the world. When buying a prepaid SIM card and a GSM phone, you get no binding contracts or controlled expenditures. They are safe and convenient while overseas, incoming calls are free in most countries (including the USA) and national and international calls are quite inexpensive. All you have to do is give your personal cell phone number to people before departing! No time for hesitation! Rent one of these satellite GSM phones and think for your trip abroad! Take your chance to enjoy inexpensive conversations anywhere you travel! Check out our country-specific SIM cards as well, and pick the one that suits your needs best!

Running a Business from a Yacht

Many people who turn a pursuit they like into a business often find that they become too involved with the business to exercise their chosen pursuit. But, nowadays, with modern communications, there’s really no need to tie yourself to an office instead of setting out to enjoy what you do.

A prime example is Diane Edwards, who used to work for Microsoft (Australia) until she ‘ran away to sea’ to set up Seascape Sailing, a yacht company offering cruises in 50-foot sailboats around the Dodecanese Islands and the eastern end of the Aegean Sea, as well as further afield.

But, she doesn’t sit around her office in Lakki, on the Greek island of Leros, while others have the fun. She’s also the skipper of Vassilis, but, while at sea, can run her business from her tiny cabin in the bows, with the aid of her mobile telephone and laptop computer.

‘ It’s just a regular cellphone’ she told me. The Satphone, as well as being too expensive, has very slow data transfer rates, so it’s not practical for a lot of the .doc attachments and online weather forecasts she wants to access.

She uses the GPRS system to get into the Internet, which is in theory about the same speed as a 56k land connection.

‘In Greece’ she said ‘you must have a regular monthly account with a phone company; that is, a year's contract - to use GPRS. You cannot access GPRS from a pay-as-you-go SIM card.’

You can, of course, take a regular pay-as-you-go cellphone to Greece with you and just make and receive calls and texts with it.

Some of Seascape’s cruises take in the Turkish coast; indeed, some of the Dodecanese Islands, which is where they do most of their sailing, are so close to Turkey that the islanders could almost have a conversation with someone on the mainland.

But, this doesn’t present a great problem.

A Greek SIM / GPRS connection will work in Turkey, and, indeed, anywhere else the phone company has a roaming agreement. But, although it’s technically possible, it’s not advisable unless funds are not a problem. What are very reasonable data rates in one's home country become suddenly astronomical when roaming.

‘Whenever we go to Turkey,’ I was told ‘we get local pay-as-you-go cards.’

Even in Greece, Seascape’s main appeal is that they take you to the remoter islands, such as Lipsi, Arki, and Marathi where the tourists rarely go. Usually, there isn’t an airport, and the larger ferries can’t get into the little harbours. But, Seascape’s 50-footers can. And, since crews and passengers usually take their main meal ashore, it’s a chance for, literally, a taste of the ‘real Greece’

But, the work doesn’t go away, and here, Diane Edwards blesses the invention of Bluetooth.

‘It’s great! It eliminates a lot of the possible cable compatibility issues. I can sit down at a table in a taverna with a drink, open up my laptop and connect immediately via my cellphone.... whilst it's still sitting yards away in my backpack.!’ She tries to deal with all the business which comes her way as soon as she can. ‘The backup pile becomes too large otherwise’ she said ‘ If it's more web-intensive stuff, or non-time-critical, it can generally wait till I’m back at Lakki. Or, sometimes, I will find a quiet spot in a taverna where I can deal with non-urgent stuff, leaving the other skippers to deal with boat matters.’ In winter, the boats are brought out of the water, and the team head for warmer climes to do their thing in hired boats. Australia and Thailand are favoured sailing grounds. And, of course, the laptop/cellphone combination goes with them. In these places, GPRS can be accessed easily with a pay-as-you-go SIM card. In Thailand, they even have special visitors' packages. In the early days, she used to connect by dialling in at 9600bps! But, as the technology has improved, Seascape has kept up with it.

But, there's always some teething issue with new equipment. Getting components to talk to each other, the finding right phone settings for GPRS; all have raised their obstacles. ‘Once you are all configured, it's great’ said Diane. ‘ Occasionally, a new set-up has worked first time for me. I believe the moon was a delicate shade of blue that month!’

What they’re waiting for at the moment is for 3G to get to the islands. ‘We will be in Connectivity Heaven!’ Diane told me ‘I have not yet tried it, but my partner in Australia uses broadband wireless (apparently the same thing), and he says it is as fast as land-based broadband.’

‘It's a fascinating field’ she went on ‘It’s changed so much since we started, and it IS getting easier. Once you understand the basics of configuring a phone/ laptop for a GPRS connection, you'll figure most things out pretty quickly for yourself. We surely could not operate without it!’