take a weekend ham lisencing course. The entry level Ham operators lisence can be had without learning Morse Code and it is easy to pass the test at the end of a one day class. This will allow you to operate Amateur radio on vhf and uhf frequencies. A couple of hand held amateur vhf radios will cost about $100 or so each and you will be able to communicate Line-Of-Sight for 10 - 30 miles or better from your radio to your wives. This has the advantage that you won't be overwhelmed by congestion in the cell tower. This has the added advantage that the Hams are the first source of reliable information on the weather and disaster relief agency efforts. Hams participating in the SkyWarn organization are the source for the local eye witness storm tracking used by NOAA. Fema relies upon Amateur radio operators in the ARES organization for emergency communications during disasters. If you are a Ham you get the chance to participate and the lisence to use the frequencies to communicate with your family. If you get a mobile unit in your car your range could be 100's of miles in flat locations such as most of TX. Handheld family radios are limited to something under a watt of power. Handheld Ham radios are not limited except that you wouldn't want more than 5 - 7 watts right next to your face. Mobile rigs often run 35 - 50 watts and 100 watts can be done but again you might not want to stand that close to a 100 watt antenna. Communications are not cheap, reliable communications during disasters are priceless. If you can afford the class and a couple of handhelds I can't imagine an occasion when you wouldn't be able to contact your wife either directly or through other hams. Of course you need to both get lisenced.