sat phone rental

Me too. Although, as it turns out, the remote parts of Asia I am traveling to have better cell phone coverage than areas near my house.

dunno if this would help but, the new delorme pn 60 gps will be able to sat-text, assuming you buy the expensive version.

Have heard good things about these guys..

http://www.mobal.com/satellite-phone/

+1 on Mobal, I have rented from them the past 2 years. They are up front on their costs and throw in a few extras with it. I needlessly packed the spare battery both years on 7 night + trips and by turning on the sat phone only to call out, I had full power at the end of each trip! Just be very careful with the antannae extention, it is fragile!

I rented a sat pager from gitsat.com a couple of months ago. They also rent phones. Good experience with their customer service reps!

How much?

I agree with the comments re Mobal. I've used them before too and they were really good.

If you're comparing them with others, make sure you check shipping costs because most charge for shipping each way which bumps up the cost of the rental quite a lot.

Where you heading to anyway?

We are floating the Stikine from Telegraph Creek B.C. to Wrangel AK, about a one week float.

I had the same experience with the shipping. My sat pager rental for a week cost nearly $120 with insurance, shipping, and service. Definitely not cheap

Mobal offers free shipping. Phone weighs about 8 oz.

When are you doing it? June can be really bad time- I nearly died a few years ago. Ask a local about river conditions before you go.

Also, it's usually notably less than one week, unless you're stopping a lot to hike. I know it's a 160-mile trip, but the river flows at, like, 10 knots.