Emergency Internet access plan: fail!

I was rather hoping that when my cable internet service gets knocked out, I can just tether my cell phone to my computer and access internet that way. The technology works, and so I thought I was all set until a storm actually hit the area and knocked out the ISP. So I went to the backup, only to discover that my cell service was out, too. ARGH!

Any ideas?

Yes, I know internet access is not crucial to survival, but it and the radio are two ways I get information. I am considering a small TV, except that digital reception doesn't seem so great around here, and I'm personally not sure how useful a TV would be in an emergency, not having had one for more than for a decade.

DB

Get the latest model Amazon Kindle with built-in wifi (ATT is the provider and it's included with the Kindle last I checked), and an Ipad2 (Verizon version, quite a bit of data downloadable for $30 per mo., no contract required). Assuming your cellphone provider is not ATT or Verizon already, of course, you would then have 3 internet provider options in case of emergency. Note: Internet surfing on the Kindle is barely adequate, but possible and cheap.

A good weather radeo will receive emergency broadcast system messages in the event of a true disaster and is invaluable. The scenario you described may not have been sever enough to trigger such an aleert, except for weather updates. In a trukly disaterous weather situation you would (should( hear evacuation notices and such. Not as detailed as we're accustomed to on the internet, but in a sever weather system where both land lines and cell towers are without power, the airwaves are you last resort for information.

If you're wanting emergency internet access for communication during a crisis, get into amatuer (ham) radio instead. If you're wanting emergency internet access to play World Of Warcraft, your options are limited.

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This is where an alliance with your neighbors can help. Find a neighbor that uses DSL from the phone company and make an informal mutual aid agreement with them. Each of you must have a wi-fi router.

In normal times you would use your cable modem and your neighbor would use their DSL modem. If one or the other systems fail, the neighbor with access to the internet can add a login to their wi-fi router so the other neighbor can get internet access through their service. Setting up a wi-fi login only takes a minute or two.

If you really trust your neighbor you could go ahead and setup shared access ahead of time, but in my case, I don't trust my neighbors that much but in a storm or other outage, I would be more than happy to share and have done so a few times.

In my experience, DSL and phone landlines are more durable than cable service. I've been through a few hurricanes where the cable and power were knocked out but the phone system kept right on ticking.

I have a weather radio with SAME. There was a thunderstorm warning. The local cable/cellular system apparently is not robust enough to withstand that. My experience with tornado warnings has been about the same.

I like looking at NOAA weather data in bad weather. That gives me a better sense of what to expect. Now I have to figure out how useful that really is. How "cost-efficient," I guess.

DB

I thought about this, especially since I can see around 20 wi-fi networks right now. But given the average age around here, I don't think anyone would do DSL or landlines. Might be worth a check...

DB

POTS line, modem, generator, netzero.com free dial-up account.

Certainly the least expensive of the various options. We have buried phone lines in my neighborhood and they have never gone out.

One of the things I do for my customers is design redundant Internet connectivity. Most of the enterprise-grade options are probably not available to you.

Some people I know get service from two providers (phone and cable) but that might be too expensive. I'd also want to find out how reliable the two providers have been in your area during storms.

Satellite Internet (as suggested by duckear) is very reliable, except when there's a lot of water between your antenna and the satellite. Very heavy rain or snow can temporarily keep it from working. The latency and bandwidth are also pretty poor.

Cellular is more reliable where I live than landline service, but that didn't work for you.

A local wireless ISP may be your best bet. You'll likely need an external directional antenna, if service is available in your area.

so why was the cell service out, I have been without power and land line many times but cell service has never gone out.

My experience down in hurricane alley is that a wind storm can easily damage a cell transmission tower. If that does not get it, many cell towers are only equipped with a minimum level of backup power via standby batteries. Once the main line power is off, you may only have a few hours (or minutes) of cell phone service in the effected area depending on the maintenance schedule of the batteries in a particular tower. This was seen as a failure point in Florida in 2004. Now many towers here do have adequate backup power via automatic generators and the like, but if your area was not seen as needing such measures, you likely do not have it.

If I might add another suggestion, I am an amateur radio operator. The very best information I obtained during the 2004 hurricanes was from my neighbors operating relatively short range 2 meter radios. Amateur radio is by far the most dependable means of communication in a disaster.

I'm working on that. Thanks for the suggestion!

I hear some people have been able to send/receive messages to the internet via ham radio. Probably about as efficient as a dog walking on two legs, but maybe I can get out that Facebook update...

Da Bing

After you lose your Internet access, the feelings of loss will subside after about 2 weeks depending on the level of dependence.

Facebook will seem trivial and pointless and the idea of sending an email will fill you with dread let alone an IM or that even that Twitter obsession. You may even feel the need to once more write a letter by hand and possibly feel the warm feeling of retro behaviors such as playing a vinyl record as you ponder the immense waste of human activity and time that the Internet represents.

Without the internet, how am I supposed to check in with you guys on my 12 Step Program out of internet addiction? Don't I need to take pictures of the new survival gadgets I bought, upload them, do a show-and-tell, etc.? You can't do tough survival man stuff without the internet. Besides, the internet is the only girlfriend I've got. Indeed, the internet is at the core of the definition of manliness for the 21st century!!!

Da Bing

It's called packet radio. It's pretty cool as a tech demo and awesome for email when the ISP is down, but it's not something I'd use for casual web browsing.

I've heard the Internet dubbed as the best means of communication since the beginning of mankind. I guess that means outside of a grand-scale natural disaster. However, I will say Internet access is steadily becoming more and more reliable.