Globalstar GSP-1600 Survival Guide

[gunterm]

In my haste of buying one of these that came without a charger, I neglected to check and see how much chargers cost. $50, just as much as the battery, ****! So by any chance are there other chargers that will work with this besides the official ones I see for sale?

[mobilemedic]

No. But I am working on a supply for car and wall chargers as well as affordable batteries. Keep an eye on my site. azmobilemedic.com
I will post when I have items for sale and activate my store once I have a Supply.

In the mean time, Id recommend eBay or Google search and dig deep. should be able to get one for 20-30 bucks if you dig.

I have a lot of info and add more as I come across (usually several times a week) www.azmobilemedic.com

[gunterm]

I got lucky and found the combo charger (spare battery and phone simultaneously) on eBay, listed under the chargers model number instead: GSP 1210. Not a bad price.

[gunterm]

It looks like the battery might be rebuildable provided I can get the numbers off the cells. My charger arrives tomorrow so if I find out this battery is bad I'll take it apart and see. Like when rebuilding a laptop battery usually bigger cells can be purchased to increase runtime.

[gunterm]

Battery charger showed up today and the phone charges and works! However I'm having a strange problem that I can't figure out with the satellite service:

I'm not sure yet if I'll sign up for service because of the 1 year agreement thing, but I'd like to see how the signal is and make a test call (found #TEST or #8378 in the manual). But I've noticed that when I get a signal it quickly goes away, then comes back, then goes away. After pulling the SIM and powering back up, it's able to get and hold a great signal (-16 dBm), so is my SIM bad or does Globalstar kick unactivated phones off the dish?

[rrick]

If you want a head start on that battery order, the handset battery contains two 18500 lithium batteries. Order a pair with tabs already welded for under $10.

[mobilemedic]

If the phone is not activated with Globalstar that is exactly what will happen. it will not just get signal like a cell phone will do. It hits the satellite, and if not provisioned, drops signal.

For more info, see my Globalstar Blog www.satphonebrad.com

[gunterm]

Anyone know the details about prepaid? I don't see any mention of it on their site is I'm worried they don't do that anymore.

[mobilemedic]

Just as expensive as its always been. If your a North American subscriber.. Better off with their monthly plan for 1 year unless you really don't want to use it for more than say a month or so. Then I'd say rent the phone.

[dustinw90]

Hi,
I'm getting a GSP-1600, and glad to see that other people have been able to get some internet service on these--the phone dealers I talked to all seemed puzzled why anybody was interested in trying to do so! What I want to do is try to check email on my Asus netbook. I'll put in exgress gate; and I've ordered adapters for the phone cable (serial port) for my computer's Lan port. I see now that others are plugging phones into USB. Will lan work just as well, or should I get a USB adapter instead? Mostly I'm looking for ease of setup!
Thanks for helping!

[gunterm]

Does anyone know about traveling? I'm thinking since there's no PRL that I need to change my home SID when I enter a new area, correct? Otherwise PP will hit me for roaming.

[gunterm]

These phones only receive texts, however my refill reminder ones are all garbled. Are they just not capable of CDMA cellular texting?

[rrick]

These phones only receive texts, however my refill reminder ones are all garbled. Are they just not capable of CDMA cellular texting?

I've rever received an SMS where the body was garbled. Deciphering who sent it is my only problem. Sender is a mix of PagePlus, PagePlusNAM, no number, or the sender's number.

Not supprizingly, voice calling back someone addicted to texting is just as unreliable (probably hoping their voicemail to SMS kicks in).

[aryntha]

These phones only receive texts, however my refill reminder ones are all garbled. Are they just not capable of CDMA cellular texting?

I had to re-activate with pageplus today. That went OK, I ended up with another number unfortunately, but at least for voice, its back in business.

Unfortunately, i'm having this same problem. Texts are completely garbled. Before I got the new NAM and MSID/MIN they weren't... I wonder if i'm missing something here, too.

[mobilemedic]

Traveling and Page Plus.... So far I have had no issues with roaming and I have 1 home sid in my system. I have used my handset in Az (home) Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Parts of texas with no issues at all. it would have the little man roaming symbol but not blinking.

I too have seen random garbled texts.. Very irritating. iPhones tend to do it. Think its some kinds of MMS as its seems binary.

Im still working on bluetooth adapters for these handsets but its been setback. theres a 150 dollar item that will give you wifi from the phone, you will still need a data cable or a car kit. Other than that, Serial port and cable is needed (or usb adapter and cable) and pc.

Hope that catchs up some of the questions above I haven't answered. I have not been on this thread in a while been busy with my own site

See about me for more info on that site. Its globalstar phone related.