Hey, must be getting close if we're talking about communication with the wife!
I have a sat phone, an Iridium 9555 which runs me $29.99 a month. They're expensive, at least they were when I bought it; been using it for a few seasons now. I was using a SPOT locator as my "i'm alright" technology.....right before a trip with my nephew, my sister in law asked that I place her cell phone number on the SPOT contacts so she would get the email when we would "check in." So I went into internet explorer and accessed my account on SPOT, saved the addition, and exited. Never really gave it too much thought.....nephew flys in, we head out at the butt crack of dawn for Utah for ten days.
10 days later when we're coming out I can't reach my wife's work number, I call my dad so he can call everyone to tell them we're coming home. His first words are, "You need to call your wife now, everyone in her family has been panicking....we never got one of your check ins." SPOT doesn't support IE, you're suppose to use Chrome, and all the people on the list who were suppose to receive my alerts were deleted. Needless to say I was in hot water for awhile....my Nephew calls it "the trip we ticked off the whole family."
Anyway, satellite phones are great, but pricey.....monthly as well as initial investment. However, you can rent them by the week, which is a great idea for someone only needing it once in a while. I sort of rationalize the expense by thinking back to the long drive home from Utah knowing Thanksgiving dinner was going to be a treat, and I really only use it for 3-4 weeks a year.
If you have any questions let me know, and good luck.