WHY DOES IT COST ME WHEN SOMEONE CALLS MY SATELLITE PHONE?

Hi. My name is John Whitley and I’m the founder of SatellitePhoneSales.com.au, Australia’s number one online satellite communications store.

I want to answer one of the most common questions I get from anyone looking into satellite phones in Australia, “Why does it cost me when someone calls my satellite phone”?

Great question. And the answer is that not all satellite dealerships charge you. So don’t be conned into believing that they all do.

It’s a bit hard to stomach that there you are, minding your own business, your satellite phone rings, you answer it without a thought and BANG! you’ve just been charged $1.50 to $2.00 by the dealer.

“Hold on,” I hear you cry. “But I didn’t make the call. How can I control what someone else does? That’s not fair.” And you are absolutely right. It isn’t.

It tends to be the major players that are doing this to you: the likes of Telstra, Pivotel and a few others. The reason comes down to them offering you a local Australian phone number for your satellite phone. It sounded good when you bought it from them, but was it explained to you that it will cost more?

To get a local number the call has to go through a local exchange and be converted from the satellite phone number to the local number. This is not free. Some dealers will try to absorb this charge by offering minutes within their airtime and others will simply charge it on.

The reality is, it’s a bit like playing at a casino. The house know the numbers and set themselves up so they don’t lose. That can only result in you being charged more.

It’s not an insignificant amount of money and can make owning your satellite phone a lot more expensive than you initially thought. But of course once you are in a contract that’s it, you’re stuck with it.

So my advice is that if you’re not that fussed about getting a local number (and in our experience 85% of customers aren’t) then go to a dealer who does not charge for incoming calls.

Again, it tends to be the quality online operators that offer you the option, so choose the deal that’s best for you. Shop around and you could save money straight away.

I trust you found this information useful. If you’d like to know anything more about satellite phones and how you can save money on yours, 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 Isatphone pro.

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