Everything You Need to Know About Iridium SIM Cards and Top-Ups

Everything You Need to Know About Iridium SIM Cards and Top-Ups

Introduction to Iridium SIM Cards

Just like your smartphone, Iridium satellite phones and WiFi hotspots need an active Iridium SIM card inserted into them in order for them to do their job. From making voice calls to sending data files from some of the world’s most remote locations, an Iridium SIM card is the key to unlocking your Iridium satellite device. We offer colour-coded Iridium SIM cards for pay-monthly contracts (orange) or for top-ups (green) to give our customers the flexibility they need whilst on their travels.

Benefits of Iridium Sat Phone Prepaid SIMs

Iridium sat phone top-ups, or prepaid SIMs as they are also known, offer customers the freedom to only pay for as much airtime as they need for a specific excursion, adventure, or trip. Unlike a monthly contract, customers are able to keep more on top of their expenditure, and don’t run the risk of an unexpectedly high bill at the end of the monthly period. The overall key benefits are:

• Cost control
• Flexibility
• No contract commitments

How to Choose the Right Iridium SIM Card and Top-Up Plan

The amount of airtime a person needs very much depends on the nature of their trip and device usage. We strongly recommend using Iridium top-ups for short-to-medium trips as it’s a much more cost-effective approach. Below are aspects to consider before going ahead with a top-up strategy:

• Where in the world am I travelling?
• How long will I be away for?
• How frequently will I use my device?
• Will I need to make voice calls or data sends or both?

Tips for Managing Your Iridium SIM Card and Top-Up Plan

Many of our customers share the same strategy of using their devices little and often while out on their challenges, adventures, or work operations. Unless absolutely necessary e.g. in the case of an emergency, the use of an Iridium device should be planned to only be a few minutes every other day in order to best preserve airtime and data usage. With Iridium sat phone or Iridium GO! top-ups, you are in control so can plan as efficiently as possible.

When it comes to things like sending photos or video files, for example, we recommend queueing them up to send all at once, say, at the end of the day. So you would turn your device on e.g. the Iridium GO! exec, activate data usage, and send all queued-up data files at that time each day.

Understanding Iridium Top-Ups

Iridium SIM cards start with zero balance and validity. Choose the option appropriate for your needs and you can then extend at a later date if you need to - SIM card validity can be extended by purchasing another prepaid voucher or 30 day extension before the original expiry date.

If the validity is not extended then your SIM card will expire and become unusable. Any minutes remaining will be lost and your SIM will enter a 270 day grace period in which you may reactivate the SIM by adding a new voucher, however the original balance will be lost and will not be added to the new balance.

After this 270 day period has ended the SIM will automatically deactivate meaning that you will need to purchase a new Iridium airtime SIM Card and pre-paid voucher. Reactivating a deactivated card incurs the Reactivation Only charge below plus the cost of a new airtime voucher.

As always, our team of experts at OSAT is here to help. So, if you need any advice about Iridium SIM cards and top-ups, contact us via:

• Email: info@osat.com
• Phone: +1 305 560 5355