Iridium Phones Show Incorrect Date Of 2008

Iridium have updated the system time on their satellites as of 3rd March 2015. Iridium call this a "re-epoch". Since that point, some Iridium handsets, including the Iridium 9555, Iridium 9575 Extreme, Iridium 9505a and Iridium 9500) will display an incorrect system time (of 2008) until the user corrects the time by entering in a sequence of numbers on the handset. (Note, Iridium-Go is unaffected)

Note that this change should have no effect on the ability to make phone calls, send SMS messages or to make internet data calls. However, the time shown on the handset display will be reset to start counting from late 2007 and as you read this post will be showing a date in 2008 (or perhaps 2009 if you are reading this in 2016!). Additionally the Iridium 9575 GPS will fail to obtain a valid position and hence the Iridium 9575 tracking feature will stop working until the system time is reset as below.

How to reset the System Time on your Iridium 9555 or 9575 Extreme

Iridium 9555 and 9575 users can restore the correct time settings by following the following steps (this will also restore GPS tracking capability on the Iridium 9575):

1. Dial *#99#2014051114235500#
2. Press the green key
3. Turn off/on their phone

How to reset the System Time on your Iridium 9500, 9505, 9505a

Iridium 9500, 9505 and 9505A customers will need to set the updated time and date from their phone menu. The extended phone set‐up menu must be set to “On” (see page 137 of Iridium 9505A user guide, page 149 of the Iridium 9500 user guide, or page 139 of the Iridium 9505 user guide), then follow these instructions to set time and date:

1. Follow the steps in "Getting to Phone Setup..." to get to Set Time and Date, and then press OK to select.
2. Press MENU to choose Set Home Time + Date or Set Away Time + Date, and then press OK. You will see Enter Home Time or Enter Away Time and the time currently set.
3. Press OK to accept the displayed time.
   or
   Enter the time in 24-hour format, and then press OK. You will see Enter Home Date or Enter Away Time and the date currently set.
4. Press OK to accept the displayed date. You will see Completed.
   or
   Enter the date in day(dd)-month(mm)-year(yy) form and then press OK. You will see Completed.
5. Press and hold C to exit the menu.