168. Satellite phones use cellphone towers

"So-called “satellite” phones have been found to have reception problems in countries like Kazakhstan with very few cell phone towers. If the Earth were a ball with 20,000+ satellites surrounding, such blackouts should not regularly occur in any rural countryside areas."

Dubay makes blanket claims for all satellite companies without providing any specifics.

20,000+ satellites

There are several satellite communications companies, all with different technologies, coverage and service capabilities.  The 20,000+ number of satellites figure is meaningless since only a few of these are used to provide satellite phone services.

Some of the major satellite phone companies are listed below with the number of satellites that they operate.

Iridium:  66 low Earth orbit satellites
Gloabalstar: 24 low Earth orbit satellites
Immarsat: 13 geostationary satellites

Satellite phones have reception problems where there are few cellphone towers

Dubay is implying that satellite phones are just cell phones.   Not many cell phone towers in the Arctic and the Iridium satellite phone works just fine there, covering the whole area, so that puts an end to that theory.

Specifically regarding Kazakstan, there are many satellite phone companies giving full coverage of that country including Iridium, Immarsat and Globalstar.  Once again Dubay just shamelessly lying.

Source:  https://www.inmarsat.com/about-us/our-satellites/our-coverage/ Source:  https://www.globalstar.com/support/coverage-maps

Satellite phones have reception problems

Yes.  And?  There are many reasons why satellite phones might have reception problems without having to resort to the conclusion that satellites don't exist!  

Coverage

The satellite phone company that you subscribe to may not cover a particular region.  As far as I am aware Iridium is the only company that claims to cover the whole Earth including the Arctic and Antractic.

Satellite failure

Solar flares

Solar flares can disrupt communications

Landscape or buildings in the way

If the satellite company operates low Earth orbit satellites, or only a few geostationary satellites, the satellite can be positioned at a low angle in the sky.  A mountain, a hill or a tall building can block signals.

Reliability

I have listed reasons why satellite phone reception problems might exist, but that does not mean that satelllite phone service is intermittent as Dubay is trying to suggest.  Emergency services throughout the world are some of these company's main customers precisely because of their reliability and coverage.

I have been unable to find any reports of satellite phone blackouts, but I did find these extracts from a report by an independent company TelAstra commissioned to compare Immarsat, Iridium and Thuraya that attest to service reliability.

From: http://www.inmarsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/TelAstra_SatPhone_Comparison_Study.pdf
"Global coverage
Inmarsat: TelAstra can confirm Inmarsat‟s global coverage claims. IsatPhone Pro
worked well in all locations. We obtained strong connections for IsatPhone Pro in
Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska and northern Finland near the Arctic Circle – all
areas moving towards edge of coverage. IsatPhone Pro worked well near the
equator and in mid-latitude locations as well.
Iridium: Our tests show that the Iridium satellite network is global. However, its
universal service claim ignores the fact that coverage is often denied or
disconnected near partial foliage and buildings. In reality, the Iridium system
probably provides less coverage of the Earth at any time because the Iridium
satellites are typically at a low elevation angle and transmission is blocked. Our
experience is that longer calls on Iridium 9555 typically suffer disconnects, probably
because the satellites are moving.
Thuraya: Although the Thuraya system is regional, we found that within the regions
that it covers the service was similar to that provided by IsatPhone Pro."

"Network availability
We assessed the availability for IsatPhone Pro and Thuraya XT to be essentially
100%. The only requirement is to find and maintain a clear transmission path.
On several occasions we had to wait for 5 to 12 minutes to connect to the Iridium
network. Iridium 9555 seems to drop out frequently in certain environments. Since
the satellites are moving in orbits that are typically unknown to the phone user, it is
unlikely that a user can provide any form of “cooperation” that would reduce
blockage."

To summarise.  
  • Of course satellite phones will have reception problems, so Dubay's point is irrelevant.
  • Some satellite phone services can and do provide global service.
  • Regular blackouts do not occur so Dubay is making stuff up again.


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