Satellite phones are not a trivial investment. The per-minute charges, cost of the phone and the phone's applicability to each end user's needs must be cautiously weighed against the user's telecommunications requirements. A short search will show that there is plenty of evidence of a decline in the cost of per-minute charges and handsets. Fortunately, this trend is expected to continue. Nonetheless, potential customers have had difficulty in getting significant comparative data on the performance of how each satellite phone system works. The marketing materials offered by the service operators are important sources of information, although nothing can really measure up to the capability to test each system side-by-side in a real world environment.
The following report is the result of vigorous testing of the functionality of the latest equipment and services offered for the Iridium and Globalstar satellite telephones. Many variables were taken into account and evaluated during this testing. The results conclude that of the two systems there are significant differences.
The most significant distinction between Iridium and Globalstar satellite phones was that of audio quality during voice calls. It was observed universally and in sampling after sampling, demonstrated that the Globalstar had a far superior audio quality compared to the Iridium system. The Globalstar outperformed the Iridium in audio quality criteria even under ideal conditions. On 10% of 35% of its calls in the more challenging test scenarios, the Iridium satellite phone rated as falling below mission critical quality.
Both satellite phones suffer from low data rates, making data downloads and web usage difficult. Nonetheless, in comparison with each other, Globalstar has a technical advantage in data speed, which allowed it to outperform Iridium. Out of 80 download attempts, Globalstar achieved a 100% success rate compares to 70% for Iridium.
In conclusion, in most measurements, Globalstar outranked Iridium on voice calling as well as data transfer. Results were obtained by more than 10 individuals testing satellite phone equipment.
“This information was referenced from an evaluation made by Satellite Communications Group of Frost and Sullivan”
