"It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money; that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything. Because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It cannot be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

Let's be honest - the internet has condensed how people research and buy goods and services. In the past, when you needed something, you would look up suppliers in the phone book and then call them to ask about pricing, service, delivery, etc. These days, while the process is the same for acquiring whatever you need, you can now find almost anything on-line with a word search and a few clicks of your mouse. Generally speaking this has translated into easier lower prices, more choices and easier decisions for a whole host of products and services. That's great for buyers of goods ranging from cars to insurance to cell phones to towels, to flower delivery. Paying a lower price to buy goods and services will save you money, right? It is almost guaranteed that in long run it won't save you money at all, in fact it will cost you more money than if you had paid just a little more for whatever it is you bought!

In a world where, 'you get what you pay for' has never been so true, one has to be discerning because often times paying the lowest price will doom you to frustration, wasted time and ultimately wasted money. If you've paid the lowest price and wasted many hours after the sale for set-up, we would argue you have paid a far higher price overall. Paying the extra $10 to buy the pre-assembled wheelbarrow or bicycle is money well spent because taking 30 minutes or more for assembly is not the best use of ones time. Is your time worth more than $20/hour? You bet it is!

Is it worth it to pay the lowest possible price (saving about $100) and be stuck flying from Boston to Chicago to Baltimore to Orlando (total travel time 9 hrs)? Or would it have been better to spend the extra $100 and fly direct and spend just 3 hours traveling? Oh, yeah…with four children, two of them under the age of four. (True story!)

The lowest price is usually excruciatingly expensive.

So it is with Iridium satellite phones. Google 'Iridium 9505A' and see how many companies out there are competing to win your business based on price alone. Is there any substantive difference between a phone that costs $1,495.00, $1,395.00 or $1,347.00? We're talking about the actual phone - Is there any difference in the actual phone? Of course not! All of the phones come from the same factory, from the same assembly line, made by the same workers. The difference in the price has nothing to do with the phone.

That is where the similarity ends and the following secrets will reveal this to you.

This Straight Talk Series article will share with you secrets you need to know so that your Iridium phone program will be an easy and productive endeavor instead of a tragic and compete nightmare. When you buy Iridium satellite phones you will have to spend money on the phones and airtime. The question really is: Where do you value your time and energy?

In over 10 years of providing Iridium phones to clients, we've seen case after case where buying from the lowest-cost provider was an excruciatingly painful decision because it ended up being such an expensive long-term decision for the client. Initially, the lowest price always looks great. Until you learn the truth:

It will cost you a fortune afterwards.

Read on……

SECRET #1 - All Iridium 'kits' are not created equal!

This is one of our favorite scams that we will expose: you find a price for an Iridium phone that is $200 below the lowest price you've seen anywhere else, let's say $1,175.00. Now just think about that for a minute: same phone, same factory, and the same workers. How could it even be possible to sell the SAME phone for $200 LESS than anyone else? Well, you already know the answer - it isn't! Their 'bargain-priced' kit consists of only an Iridium phone and a wall charger. The rest of the kit has been stripped out - no car charger, no remote antenna with adapter, no phone case and no international plugs. What you get is barely worth the $1,175. And you thought you were getting the lowest price and a great deal? ALWAYS be sure you are getting pricing on a COMPLETE kit - all of the standard Iridium accessories included. Don't shortchange yourself because if you do, it will cost you more than the $200 you theoretically saved to buy all of the additional accessories you will need to make a complete kit.

SECRET #2 - Always demand pooled airtime! No Ifs, Ands, or Buts!

Only work with a provider who will pool your airtime and never work with a provider who won't pool your airtime. The simple truth is that if your Iridium airtime provider isn't willing to pool your airtime, they are ripping you off! There are a couple of exceptions to this, but for the most part any Iridium airtime re-seller has the ability to allow you to pool airtime. Here's the secret: Any provider selling Iridium airtime is buying the airtime buy the minute. Pooling airtime is simply a process of keeping track of the various phones a particular client has and making the decision to count the airtime as one 'account'. It can be done and if your provider won't pool it for you, fire them immediately and find a provider who will. And ONLY work with a provider who is an authorized airtime re-seller. If your airtime bill doesn't come from your provider, they are not in control of the rates and airtime billing process further limiting their abilties.

Here is a clear example of why pooling airtime is good for you, as a client:

We had a client with a half dozen phones on inclusive minute rate plans - 600 minutes for each phone. We noticed that one or two of the phones were racking up large overage charges, 800, 900 minutes. That's an additional $300.00 to $450.00 per month. At the same time they had phones that were using very little or no airtime at all. We called the client to ask why this was happening. They said that sometimes one or two phones are deployed and the others sit on the shelf. We proposed pooling the airtime under a single account, which now gives them the flexibility of any phone being able to use the airtime. Pooling the airtime saves them thousands of dollars per year. While the overage model is more profitable for us, it was not best the client. This is one reason they have been a very loyal client for years.

Pooling airtime saves money, especially when you have a provider that will adjust monthly minutes up and down. Here's a realistic scenario that happens for hurricane or fire season:

You have 10 phones and need basic service for half the year and 100 minutes per month, per month during the 'season'. Consider these three scenarios for a pool of 10 phones, and decide who you'd prefer to work with:

• Service Provider A: $40/month per phone for 12 months, plus 1,000 minutes per month @ $1.49/minute. Your total annual bill for service = $13,740.00
• Service Provider B: $175/month for 100 minutes of inclusive airtime on a fixed 12-month contract, no changes allowed. Your total annual bill for service = $21,000.00
• Service Provider C: $40/month for basic service for six months and $175/month for 1,000 pooled minutes for six months. Your total annual bill for service = $12,900.00

As you can see, Service Provider C is providing you with the best value (saving you between $840 and $8,100) and the most flexibility. Suppose there is a disaster and you need 2,000 minutes of airtime for two of the months? Which provider do you think will accommodate you? What if this example was for 50 phones or 100 phones? Think about your organization - how many phones do you have, and how much money will pooled airtime save you this year?

Knowing you have a pooled airtime option is critical when making your decision of who will best serve you as your provider. A provider's willingness to pool airtime is a powerful indication of their commitment to you by providing you with the best value rather than just billing you as much money for used and unused airtime as they can. If you provider won't pool airtime, what else won't they do to accommodate you, especially in a critical situation or emergency?

Secret #3 - There's less than a phone kit in that box

When you buy your satellite phones does your lowest-cost provider send you a phone, as it was packaged at the factory with the accessories in their separate little boxes and plastic wraps? Or do you receive a complete satellite phone kit, that is ready for you to use as soon as you receive it? Ask, no INSIST that the provider you are considering send you a picture of their kit. Odds are they can't send you a picture of their kit because they don't have any kind of Iridium kit as a package but instead, they send just a box. We've found that lowest-cost providers 'selling' Iridium phones will simply send you the factory box with your phone and the accessories in it. None of them take the time to unpack the phone and accessories from the box and then re-package it in a convenient carrying case. Most won't even put the SIM card in the phone for you or even check for you to ensure all of the accessories are included.

** In an emergency situation, do you want to have to take the time to receive boxes and boxes of phones and then have to set them up, or would you rather simply open the shipping box and know your phone is ready to go immediately?**

We received a phone call from one of our Federal government clients who was standing next to a colleague who had bought his satellite phone from one of those lowest-cost providers and he was having a sever case of 'phone kit' envy. He was holding a phone and a charger; that's all his lowest- priced provider had sent to him when he bought his phone. Our client had a professional looking kit: A phone packed neatly in a carrying case with the charger and user guide. Quite a difference, especially when they needed to load up and ship out on deployment - what do you do with all those phones and chargers that came out of the factory boxes? Squeeze the accessories into your pockets? Throw them in your luggage and hope for the best? Have them all bouncing around in a box to get damaged and then not work at all?

If your provider doesn't send you a nice convenient carrying case to keep your Iridium phone in at no additional cost, then you are better off skipping their offering, even if it superficially looks like a better price. While they may be offering a lower price, the real expense will come when you have to replace lost or broken pieces of your Iridium kit.

Secret #4 -Ready, Set, Charge! (and wait)

Receiving a shipment of new Iridium phones is kind of exciting, isn't it? Actually human nature is to become excited about most things that are new - houses, cars, pets, appliances, insurance policies…..well, maybe not so much. But seriously, you have spent a considerable sum on a very unique, high tech piece of equipment that will help you save lives, and your anticipation of receiving it makes the actual delivery to be very exciting. Most likely, the first thing you want to do is to take them out and test them. Then the disappointment hits you when you realize the battery is not fully charged. How emotionally deflating….

Your lowest-cost provider doesn't unpack your Iridium phones from the factory boxes, and they certainly won't take the time to charge the phone(s) for you. It takes up valuable time, time that they would rather spend simply selling, creating another lowest-cost transaction, and ripping of another customer. That certainly doesn't do you any good, especially if you need the phones immediately. Here's the scenario:

A tornado has ripped through a wide swath of the south, taking out landlines and dropping cell towers like toothpicks. It will be days until crews can even get in to start repairs because the roads are completely blocked with debris. You urgently call your lowest-cost provider, place your order and receive your phones the next day via early express delivery. Your teams are ready to go into the affected area, areas where satellite phones will be the only source of communications. But wait…. You now have to take several hours to charge the phones. If you can find enough electrical outlets that work….

Who wants to bother with that scenario? Make sure your provider takes the time to charge the phones for you. An uncharged phone is a paperweight and that's no way to deliver critical communications tools to a client. Either insist that your provider sends you charged phones, or find a new provider.

Secret #5 - Labeling is rude, but not here!

Labeling phones is so simple and so often not done.

Your team is deployed and in the field, ready for action. Members of your team will need to call each other so they need to swap numbers, and you need a listing of who has each phone. But guess what? They don't know the phone numbers and neither do you. Know why? Because your lowest-cost provider didn't take 30 seconds to label each phone with the phone number. Now what do you do? You know what happens next don't you? You have to call your lowest-cost provider and ask them for the phone numbers (we suggest giving them a little grief for not labeling the phones in the first place).

You hope they will:
A) Answer the phone
B) Know your phone numbers

Often they will not keep an accurate database of phone numbers and will need to take the SIM card number, make a phone call and ask someone else to look up the numbers. What a waste of your time! Your teams have to be operational right now! AND….how will you label the phones NOW, In the field? Unless or course you carry a label-making gun with you…. Oh, how frustrating for you!

It is so incredibly simple to label phones with the phone numbers and so devastatingly disruptive when it is not done. Labeling each phone with the phone's number is such a great thing to do because it makes it clear for the user who is already a little intimidated with the prospect of using a 'satellite phone'.

Better yet, buy your phones from GlobaFone and skip the horror show above - we'll make sure your phones are labeled for easy and immediate use.

Secret #6 - "Read The Directions? What directions?"

Your lowest-cost provider supplied phones have arrived ready for you to use immediately!

So….. how do you make a phone call?

"Hey! Anybody know how to use this thing?"

Well…..there's the Owner's Manual, the ½ inch booklet that tells you everything you want to know about the phone. Everything. Say, wouldn't it be nice to have a small, convenient cheat sheet that tells you how to make calls and how people can call you?

Will your lowest-cost provider give you one? Doubtful, but you can always ask. Without a simple 'How To' instruction sheet, you'll spend a ton of time looking through the Owner's Manual, looking for the secret to making calls. While there is probably an index and an easy way to find out about calls, won't your people then look at all the other functions on the phone and start playing around? It is easy to get distracted and enamored by such a great piece of technology.

A simple User's Guide will save a ton of aggravation and time and get you going faster.

And make sure it fits in your Iridium phone kit and is laminated. Nothing is less functional and more frustrating than a piece of tattered paper that holds valuable information - like how to use the phone - that the next user cannot read.

Secret #7 - Hello? Anybody there?

Ask your lowest-cost provider if they provide excellent service. Think they are going to say "No, we only provide average service" and actually admit the truth to you? In a world where we are all more demanding and instant gratification is the norm, your provider better be available 24 hours a day. It doesn't need to be a 'call center' (in fact you're better off not getting into a call center, but that is another discussion), but somebody had better answer the phone when you need them to.

Scenario 1:

Your team is deployed in Iraq and Iridium is the only communications system they have. For security purposes you have PIN codes on the phones. Unfortunately the phone has been loaned to another team member who has tried to use the phone and entered the PIN code incorrectly three times, disabling the phone. You call for help - will your lowest-cost provider answer the phone and know the solution? If you call GlobaFone, we'll give you the PUK code and the instructions to unlock your phone and you'll be back up and running within minutes. Other providers may take 24 hours or longer to respond to you and what use is that to you when you need the phones to work now?

Scenario 2:

February 2, 2004 2:00 PM Eastern. The call from NASA to acquire satellite phones to work the grim task of the Columbia clean-up. Call answered, phones delivered nine hours later. 24/7 support. Again, will your lowest-cost provider be there when you need them?

As these two scenarios illustrate, working with a provider that answers your calls anytime is critical to ensuring you and your team can function with the greatest speed and effectiveness. The lesson is simple:

Don't ever work with a provider that doesn't provide 24/7 service.

CONCLUSION

Buying your Iridium phones from the lowest cost provider will always prove to be the most expensive option! From packaging to labeling, to charging your phone, you can spend hours and a lot of stress ensuring your phones will work when you need them to. We are working with a client right now who has made several purchases from the lowest-cost provider over several years and does not have a clear understanding of their inventory and no standardized kit. They are confused about everything from their service plans to what each kit contains to who has the phones. This is not a responsible position to be in if you rely on satellite communications for day-to-day operations, or if the general public is relying on you to save lives during and after a disaster.

It's your decision and along the lines of John Ruskin's quote above, here is the final thought:

The lowest-cost provider cannot afford to provide the value-added services we've listed above because their ONLY goal is the move boxes of phones. They buy from their provider, put them on their shelf and then pull them off their shelf and send them to you (Many don't even do that much - they drop-ship from a warehouse). They see you as a customer, a single transaction.

Choose a provider who prices accordingly and provides all the value-added, time-saving, stress-reducing services we've listed and treats you as a client, a provider interested in taking care of you, building a relationship and nurturing that relationship over a long period of time.

If you don't want to pay the incremental higher price it costs to be considered and treated professionally as a proper client, you will pay a lot more later on.

And that is an additional cost you simply cannot afford.

About the author:
Lou Altman is the CEO and Founder of GlobaFone, a leading provider of global wireless solutions to Government and enterprise clients. The scenarios listed here are real, taken from issues presented to GlobaFone. Many of these trouble-spots and the ensuing problems people deal with in regards to Satcom can often easily be avoided with a little forethought on the Service Provider's part. Lou believes that the term Service Provider has been lost in the marketplace by those who want to buy good and services as cheaply as possible and then expect responsible support. Lou has maintained for years the contrary nature of that that notion. By providing exceptional service at competitive pricing, GlobaFone has grown substantially over its 10 year history and gained the loyal support of numerous highly recognizable organizations.