Global Phone

If there is one thing that investors lose sleep over at night aside from the entire world of high finance in general it is an inability to communicate with their brokers. Cell phones have come a long way in the 15 or so years that they have been commonplace but despite the advances there can still be issues with network reliability. And even though those issues are becoming fewer and farther between with the ongoing improvement and upgrading of cell phone networks by the industry, there are still places that these behemoth networks cannot reach.

Investors by nature are some of the most adventurous people in the world and as such they tend to traverse the mighty outdoors in places that are, if nothing else, remote. When hiking through the wilderness or climbing Mount Everest you do not want to find out the hard way that the $700 cell phone you bought with the premium monthly plan is little more than a high-tech paper weight in certain areas. The good people at Spot have designed a satellite phone called the Global Phone that puts connectivity issues to bed permanently. It has been tested in some of the most isolated places on the planet by consumer reviewers and has been found to be able to make outgoing calls where networks like AT&T (T :NYSE) and Verizon (VZ :NYSE) had absolutely zero coverage.

The Global Phone is not a streamlined handsome looking unit by any stretch. With dimensions of 5.3” x 2.2” x 1.5” it is rather bulky by today's standards and does not have all of the bells and whistles that investors are used to having. It is for the most part utilitarian but can withstand extreme temperatures and is intended for those who either need to reach someone in an emergency or for those who find themselves traversing the Australian outback and need to get the latest stock information. In that regard, investors will find it to be a God-send when they need updates as quickly as yesterday.

There are a few downsides to the Global Phone that may be more of an annoying inconvenience than anything. First of all there is no SMS text messaging capability with the phone. The company discontinued texting capability from the phone in June of 2013 because costs for text transmission was terribly high for satellite phones and few of the phone's owners were even using the feature. So presumably few if any will miss texting. Additionally, despite the name and the main purpose of the Global Phone, coverage is not necessarily worldwide. That is to say, there are still places that you will not be able to use it because of a lack of coverage. There are myriad places on the planet that the phone will make calls that standard cell phones will not. However, satellite coverage does not account for every square inch of the planet and therefore being in places like northern Canada or in certain areas of India, Africa, or Asia will find you lacking a usable signal as well. But if you are in an isolated area in the American desert southwest or in the Rocky Mountains and your Apple (AAPL :NASDAQ) iPhone just is not cutting it to get you through to your broker, you will be glad you made the investment in the Global Phone.