Phone Numbers
Iridium controls the virtual country codes +8816 and +8817, part of the 881 range designated by the ITU for the Global Mobile Satellite System. Each subscriber is given an 8-digit number prefixed by one of these country codes. However many regional telephone service operators have no interconnect agreement with Iridium or other satellite networks and users on these networks need to call reversed charge to a U.S.-based number.
It is also possible to call an Iridium phone by using a US-based gateway number at the Arizona gateway. In this arrangement, a person wishing to call an Iridium phone dials +1-480-768-2500, billed at the standard rates to call the United States from their location, waits for the prompt, enters the +8816 or +8817 number of the Iridium phone they are attempting to reach, and the network then attempts to complete the call. If the Iridium subscriber answers their phone will be billed at its standard usage rate, ranging from $0.95 to $1.50 USD per minute, or subtracting minutes from a pool of prepaid minutes assigned to the phone.
Since spring 2007, postpaid Iridium subscribers have an option to associate their Iridium numbers with a direct U.S.-based number (the so-called +1 Access service).
Read more about this topic: Iridium Communications, Services
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