New Inreach Plans effective December 1st

[npaden]

Well, with the talk of people discontinuing their InReach and Zoleo you would think that they would be looking at ways to keep people but I guess the opposite is true.

Just got the email today that Garmin is going up on plans and no longer allowing you to suspend service during months that you aren't using it.

I was on the Freedom Safety plan that had a $35 annual fee plus $15 per month for the 2 or 3 months a year when I used it. They are now waiving the annual fee, but no longer allowing you to suspend your plan, they require you to have an "enabled" plan that is $8 per month that does allow SOS use. So I've been paying around $65 a year under the old format and now that will jump to $110 per year with the new format (assuming 2 months of active service and 10 months of enabled service).

Maybe I need to switch to T-Mobile and get a new phone...

 

[MThuntr]

Can I Still Suspend My Service on the New Plans?​

Essential, Standard, and Premium plans no longer have the option to suspend service. However, if you start to change or cancel your subscription an Enabled state of operation will be presented. The Enabled state provides a way of keeping the inReach device active and ready for use in an emergency situation at a low monthly cost. Enabled includes unlimited SOS and pay-as-you-go pricing for other features like messaging and tracking.

Alternatively, some users may benefit from cancelling their service during the off season. For example, if you only need inReach satellite communication features for one or two months out of the year, it will be more cost effective to cancel your service and then reactivate it again the following year.

 

[npaden]

I guess that's true, the $40 activation fee is about the same as the $35 annual fee on the freedom plan. I think you would just have to set everything back up each time with a new account, contacts, etc. Kind of a pain. Of course I just renewed the annual fee this month so that kind of sucks since starting in December just 3 months into my renewal I'll have to start paying $8 a month.

 

[MThuntr]

I guess that's true, the $40 activation fee is about the same as the $35 annual fee on the freedom plan. I think you would just have to set everything back up each time with a new account, contacts, etc. Kind of a pain. Of course I just renewed the annual fee this month so that kind of sucks since starting in December just 3 months into my renewal I'll have to start paying $8 a month.

You should be able to keep your account and contacts. Just activate and deactivate the existing device. Probably not all that different than suspending your device in the off season.

I use the cheapest annual contract and sometimes go over 10 messages...it's easy to burn 5 or 10 messages just with basic logistics so 50 message/month would be a welcome though the extra $3/month it's probably a break even for me.

I'm not an iPhone users so Samsung better get their poop in a group with satellite messaging.

 

[The Hedgehog]

So wait what am I missing? I just downloaded IOS18 and now can satellite message from my phone, yet Garmin wants to raise prices? Bold move.

 

[brymoore]

So wait what am I missing? I just downloaded IOS18 and now can satellite message from my phone, yet Garmin wants to raise prices? Bold move.

 

[MThuntr]

So wait what am I missing? I just downloaded IOS18 and now can satellite message from my phone, yet Garmin wants to raise prices? Bold move.

kind of...I guess the difference is now you'd get 50 messages a month versus 10 with the basic plans. If you're someone who deactivates your account seasonally the difference is about $5 (because the activation fee went from $35 to $40). I assume they're banking on people keeping them a $8/month for emergency use.

For me it looks like my cost will go up $3/month because I use mine all year.

If the iO18 works then I foresee a ton of people bailing from Garmin, Zoleo, etc very soon but I also see big fees coming from providers to access that feature.

 

[npaden]

What Happens if I Cancel My Service?​

Cancelling takes effect immediately and puts the inReach device in a "deactivated" state where it no longer functions on the Iridium satellite network. Any saved account data will still be available after cancelling. If there is no activity on your Garmin account across all our sites and services for at least 2 years, your account may be deleted. For more details, see - Inactive Account Deletion.
Devices have to be activated again in order to function on the Iridium satellite network and would incur an activation fee.

I guess I should have read everything...

This might actually save me some money. Sometimes I don't have any hunts in areas without cellular service by myself for a year and still have to pay the $35 annual amount. This way I could skip a year and not have to pay the annual fee.

If I skip 2 years then I would get deleted and have to sign up from scratch.

 

[rideold]

For those of us running older devices I bet dollars to donuts that if we cancel our service they won't allow us to re-activate an old device!