One thing to remember is that a Spot is a Globalstar service and uses the same satellites as their phones. When I turn my Globalstar Phone on it shows me what what quality of a signal I have to the satellite or a message "searching for service." They have gotten better but it is not uncommon to wait 2-10 minutes for a usable satellite connection. On a rarer occasion it may be 20 minutes. The satellites are low orbit which means they are passing overhead and always on the move. Another satellite should be coming by about every 14 minutes but depending on its position in the sky you will have different signal quality.