>>1048517You clearly don't understand how GPS or satcom works at all. GPS is one way communication for all practical purposes, the only data that is sent up to GPS satellites is orbit data for increased accuracy.
Your garmin GPS can't send signals out, it can only receive. Sending signals from a small handheld unit into space is far more difficult than sending signals from space to earth using a 10 ton multi-million dollar military satellite. That is why sat phones cost money.
The absolutely cheapest alternative will be SPOT GEN3, but those are intended just to send pre-programmed "I'm alive" or "SOS" messages to you family and emergency services. They can be had for $150 or something like that with cheap-ish subscriptions.
Garmin makes satellite communicators (inreach) that start at around $400 and will communicate with your smartphone or work standalone. Garmin charges $50/month for unlimited text messages on annual plans and $25/month for 40 messages. $0.5 for messages after those 40.
Your other cheap option is ROM Communications Text Anywhere, which is like inreach (same device price) with a way shittier device that needs a smartphone to work (no standalone screen like inreach) but offers a cheaper subscription of 100 (100 total, both send and receive) messages each month for for $30. $0.27 for messages after those 100.
And then there are the proper sat phones that cost $1000 and up, but I take it you don't want one of those.
