What makes a satphone rental easy and affordable? One of the best things you can do is rent a satphone that comes with a true local phone number.

If this is your first time using a satellite phone, you’ll be surprised that getting a satellite phone with a local phone number is even a question. If it’s your tenth, you’ll know that the answer to that question is that you definitely want a local number.

Pivotel issues local numbers based on your billing address (or other area upon request) in the US, UK and Canada. It’s one of the many unparalleled features of the Pivotel Advantage.

What is a satellite phone country code? First, it’s important to know that country codes are part of the international telephone numbering system. If you’re American you might never have considered that the “1” we dial for long-distance calls is really the country code of the US, Canada, and a few Caribbean countries. In the UK, it’s “44,” and in Australia, it’s “62,” for example. Because satellite phones work internationally, most satellite phones have a “country code” that is not tied to a country but is a fictional “country code” that is unique to their system. For example, Iridium’s “country code” is “8816," and Inmarsat's is "870." It doesn't matter which satphone you use, all common satphones including the Iridium 9555, Iridium Extreme 9575, Iridium GO!, Inmarsat Isatphone 2 and Thuraya XT-Pro phones require these codes. 

How Standard Satellite Phone "Country Codes" Make Calling Harder

Those few digits can make a big difference to the ease and cost of using a satellite phone. Why? When you have to use a fictional country code, it poses a number of issues:

• People aren’t familiar with international dialing codes, especially to countries they don’t normally call. That makes it harder for someone to get a hold of you.
• Not all phones permit dialing to an international number without calling your carrier first. For example, all Verizon phones block international calls by default. That means that people who want to call you might not be able to without jumping through the hoops of setting up international dialing on their phones first.
• International call rates can be very expensive. Customers report that when they used to use standard phones the people calling them would be surprised with bills ranging from $4 to $10 per minute to call their satellite phone. That adds up fast. By having a true local number on your satellite phone, they simply pay whatever they’d pay to call your local area code – often nothing depending on their plan.
• Texting becomes more difficult with special dialing instructions needed. With a local number you send and receive texts just like with a regular cellular phone.

How Pivotel Local Satellite Phone Numbers Make Calling Easier

By renting a satellite phone with a local number from Pivotel, you get:

• Familiar dialing patterns - You make and receive calls exactly as you do on your familiar mobile phones
• Easy and affordable calls for the calling party - You can now give out your numbers to friends, family and colleagues without them knowing that it is a satellite phone, and without them incurring unusual costs since phone networks will treat it as any other call to that area code.
• Callers to the satellite phone will not be blocked if they are calling from a PBX or other network that restricts international calls
• Text messages can be sent and received exactly as with a terrestrial mobile phone

This is only one of the benefits of renting a satphone from Pivotel. Others include:

1. Daily pricing for phone rentals – rent only for the time you need
2. Low per-minute rates to make
3. Free emergency calls
4. Easy, flexible returns

You can learn more at the Pivotel Rental Center, where we also give you a handy comparison chart on which phone to rent based on your needs. Of course, if you already know what you want you can see phones and plans in our shop now.

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