If you’re the adventurous type then you might have weighed up the pros and cons of getting a satellite phone. Pro: they let you call from help from the remotest of locations; Con: they are ridiculously expensive, and with the cost of satellite communications, you are not going to use it all that often.

The SPOT Connect is a good compromise. It doesn’t give you voice connection, but it does let you text, tweet and update your Facebook – updates are a little more limiting than standard tweets, they only give you 41 characters per custom message (preset messages can be up to 120 characters in length).

Price: $169 for the device; $99 per year for the service – compatible with iPhone and Android. [Source]