Yes, there is always that chance. But there is also a chance a tower will remain operational. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we would not be relying solely on the cell phone, but rather making the best use of the available technology to ADD to our many other ways to signal for help. I don't think anyone here would be caught without 2 or 3 or more backups.

EDIT: poor grammar

You are correct that cell service is often the first to go down. Depending on the emergency, many times it is simply due to the service being stretched beyond normal limits as 1000's of people try and contact each other.

Other times the cell infrastructure (towers etc) is damaged and needs repaired or replaced which can take days or weeks. On the other hand, many cell companies have portable cell towers and related infrastructure that can be quickly dispatched and made operational within hours or in a few days depending on location etc. The most recent example of this were the floods in Australia and which the Telco's deployed portable cell towers within days whereas those who were completely dependent on land lines were expected to wait up to months for landline service to be restored.

So as you can see, depending on cell service is NOT wrong thinking and there are advantages and disadvantages to any service. Cell phones have saved 1000's of lives over the years and I don't expect this to change anytime soon.

Also the smart and prepared people keep multiple and diversified types of comms in their kits that will allow them to make and keep contact in the event that one or more phone services are not available.

I'm leaning towards Glock's thinking on this. I need to get a cel for emergencies and am under the understanding that often text gets through when voice can't.

I agree. Depending on them when they're not guaranteed isn't the best plan A. (We take great pleasure in here of dissecting stories where someone has done just that.) Avoiding the emergency in the first place is the best plan and being prepared for contingencies a the best plan B. Cel phones are a great part of any back-up plan but they shouldn't be the only back-up plan, a practice I suspect most of us ETSers have adopted.

Who said anything about depending upon them? I have been without comms in the backcountry for a good fifty years and I have demonstrated self-sufficiency on numerous occasions, and I can continue to do so. It just seems that now is the time to add another string to the bow and supplement my options. There is much more to the capabilities of smart phones than merely making calls. My perception is that they are becoming wee little computers that can also make telephone calls.

Should the system be unavailable - no problem. Just carry on as before


The point is that cell phones are here, they work, to the extent that anything mechanical/electrical works, so what is the optimum cell phone?

That question depends mainly on the Total Cost of Ownership and how fashionable you need to be.

Phones such as the iPhone 4 or Samsing Galaxy S etc aren't inexpensive. Typically an iPhone 4 unlocked in the UK is getting on for around $800. Take into account call, Internet usage including App downloads and insurance then the cost is pretty prohibitive for a phone that isn't even ruggedised.

I've basically settled on an unlocked Samsung B2710 for 1/6 the cost of an iPhone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HXNZmIJ5VA

The Samsung should still work if going for a post Katrina swim for example.

The Real optimum cell phone is........The one you have on you,at the time you need it most!I would like to think everyone on/off,reading,writing on this site,has at the very least,the minimal knowledge to help themselves survive just about Anything disaster or shortcomings related,Without a Comm. device of Any kind!Since just about everyone does have a Cell phone/Comm. device,why not include it,Per "part" of kit?

My Emergency Phone is a unactivated and will never be activated Nokia Candy bar phone on the net 10 network purchased for 10$ No camera.

The phone is amazing it has many basic tools like an alarm clock and such and lasts 2 weeks on a charge. It is extremely useable in the GUI and has a wonderfull body.


The Major thing about purchasing even the cheapest phone is researching it and its GUI. I purchased a motorola tfc139bkb for 5$ as a backup phone to throw in the car on a pay as you go network and the GUI was so bad i ended up just throwing it in the junk/old electronics bin and forgetting about it the day i bought it. The best brand for cheap phones i have found is nokia. Their phones have been designed for developing countries and thus are bare basic rugged and extremely easy to navigate threw.



A second thing to think about is the camera phone to have a Micro SD card slot. Most camera phones with non expandable memory have little to no built in memory and thus wouldnt serve to hold enough pictures to be of major use. An example is a phone i had that only held 14 pictures on its built in memory barely enough to make a difference in my opinion when its a needed feature.

Texts can get through in areas of poor reception and network congestion where calls get dropped or can't be made in the first place.

Cell service has been very reliable during natural disasters in my area; more reliable than power and landline phone service. Keep in mind that during an extended power outage the generators that serve many cell towers will run out of fuel.

That's what happened here during the 07 fires. The cell network was so overloaded, that voice calls couldn't get through. Texted messages worked fine because of very low bandwidth requirements and they could be buffered untill there was network space available.