Ya, I think they think there's still usable signal but in reality there isn't. (or at least calling and texting don't work on the normal network. I'll. check about the SIM stuff, I honestly get a notification that I've switched to satellite but, I've tried to send a text or two just to text it and it's not working or, hasn't yet. Thanks.
Burner phone for 911 backup
- Thread starter KevinC
- Start date
I appreciate the response. I know you can't put a price on your safety, but $349 upfront plus $120 a month for something I may never have to use is just way out of our budget. I'd use my last resort plan (take my buttset out to the pedestal in my backyard and find a pair with dialtone) before I'd do that.
Looked into Starlink a little more. They do have an $80 a month plan but that's not available in my area and still too much.
Hit_Factor
Member
When it becomes available, it might be an option if you replace your home internet provider with starlink.
I have a starlink mini mag-mounted to my F350. It's been a great communication tool on our RV trip to and from Alaska.
One thing about T-Mobile Satellite that interested me is that when we do cruises in Alaska, we also do excursions that take us out of cell coverage. Cruise ships do not allow Satellite phones on board. A big no for some reason. I am sure it has to do with loss of revenue more than safety of communications. Can't charge high dollar for WIFI. It is also questionable if an InReach is allowed, but will their screening catch it? As far as I can tell, Starlink cellular should work up to about 62 deg north. Which covers almost all of the areas where there are excursions off the grid. Last trip I was able to pass an airband handheld on board. I will try that again. It is quite small. Yaesu FTA-250. I am still considering an InReach as well, but the better one is a bit pricey and I already have the airband HT and cellphone.
This is an interesting point. I just got a new phone, first one that has had the SOS satellite capability, so I've never thought of what happens if the tower is "online" but has no link. I have to do some more reading, but can't you force it by turning off the network?
I would think they would classify InReach as an ERIPB, which is prohibited. I think it has more to do with accidentally sending out an emergency beacon while on board, which would trigger a fun conversation between the captain and USCG when they scramble boats and helicopters.
Hit_Factor
Member
Starlink worked for us in Tok, AK at 63 degrees North. Very common to see vehicle mounted starlink antennas.
Our iPhone's are older, but I see no way to turn off cellular completely. I can disable data, but that's it. And apparently if I'm in airplane mode and dial 911 it will try cellular.
Maybe, but the below concerns me...
Rain - Starlink is designed to operate in wet conditions; it's hydrophobic and has a low affinity to water. In extreme cases, heavy rain or wind may affect your connection, potentially leading to slower speeds or a rare outage.
And I know it says "extreme cases", but that's apparently what we had last year and that's when I would need it most.
The burner phone on a different carrier still seems like my best choice. I would have Ooma as primary, cell as secondary, burner as third and "borrowing" a pair in the pedestal as a last resort. I didn't think about the buttset thing until several months later
I really do appreciate all the responses and this thread seems to have gotten others thinking. All good things!
And this is none of any of yours business, but my need (not want) for the ability to get through to 911 is my wife, out of the blue, started having seizures that are uncontrollable in 2022. She had no health issues before that and was a regular ole lady (shopping, driving, hiking, cooking, whatever) and now due to all the horrendous seizures she's stuck in a bed at home and I had to quit working to stay home with her. Now you know.
Just a couple of things to ponder. Tracfone does not seem to care if you buy a month, let it expire then buy more time months later.
What I'm thinking is restart it when the big one is headed your way. Need to check and see what carrier Tracfone is using - might be AT&T
I think my Telo uses T-mobile and it's only $8.60 per month.
All the newer smart phones can run VOIP apps so if you could find a working Internet you could make calls even if the carrier was down.
What I'm thinking is restart it when the big one is headed your way. Need to check and see what carrier Tracfone is using - might be AT&T
I think my Telo uses T-mobile and it's only $8.60 per month.
All the newer smart phones can run VOIP apps so if you could find a working Internet you could make calls even if the carrier was down.
Same reason any satellite service doesn't work well under tree canopy coverage, put enough stuff between the base and satellite and you end up in degraded or absent service.
No judgement. Having the ability to call emergency services in a wide area emergency is something that most of the public doesn't think about. Whatever the reason is, more people should have contingency plans, but they won't.
I think this is the plan, toss $10 at it when the big ones are coming. Tracfone is Verizon.
This does have me thinking, more of when will the SOS feature of my phone be available. Has me thinking InReach again, then I get tied up in a loop between get an InReach only device and getting a Mapping + InReach device, that would be used more, obviously with different levels of cost involved.
I never thought about it until last year. And even then it didn't hit me until that night about 4 hours after most of the wind and rain was gone. Then it hit me hard.
From what I can tell most (all?) won't until you have zero coverage on your carrier.
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
I don't know what you're paying for Internet now, but maybe switching to Starlink might be better for Internet AND redundancy?
Looking at eBay for Sat phones, they are pretty pricey, though there are some from around $80 to $150. The damn calling cards though... That's at least $200 for 100 minutes that's good for 30 days. The card seems to expire in two years though, and according to ChatGPT you can activate via the phone its self without service, but that may or may not work. So that's a wrench in the gears. Especially on the monetary front. But would fit this particular issue.
I like the pedestal idea though. If you know where one is now that could be a benefit. But, what if POTS is down? I'm sure a lot of it is on a pole, you know?
Me being just me, I would never trust the cellular or POTS network during an act of God. Especially when public safety has high priority to use what may be a highly congested cell tower. I'd personally want to gravitate towards Satellite. So Starlink, InReach or T-mobile's Sat offering. Everything else HF... Well, in regards to SHTF sort of stuff at least.
I'm sorry about your predicament. I'm in the same rusty boat. My parents are not in the best of shape and my dad's kidneys are going way south and I'm betting he'll be in dialysis soon. While that's going on my mom needs a biopsy of a mass in her thyroid. She already had one half removed. Both parents take a freaking pharmacy in medication. One of which is a real wallet burner (Thanks Pfizer) since it's an FDA tier 1 (?) drug. I get tier 3 and tier 1 mixed up. Which ever is the most price rapey. Speaking of which, I always curse the TV with the big pharma Ads. Even have a bumper sticker that reads, "Ask your doctor if 25 pages of side effects is right for you!" To that end, I personally think there's a cure for cancer. All the millions and millions donated, the pink ribbon crap done to license plates and socks to the 4k run and walks. And God forbid you get cancer (I probably will one day). You lose your house, car, job, life savings - EVERYTHING, just to go to an expensive cancer treatment center, take experimental drugs (to their marketing/research benefit) and maybe live another two years or whatever. I say this because I've had more family members and family friends die of cancer I lost count. I'd have to literally think now how many there were. And yet Magic Johnson with full blown AIDS lives and lived past COVID.... Hmmmm. Money talks, BS walks.
On the subject of seizures, my sister went through that as a teenager. Just out of the blue she'd drop. I'll never forget back then as teenagers we both we're going back and fourth about who would die first. Right then and there she dropped and had a seizure. Unreal! Later on in the years they just went away. I have to wonder about our poisonous food... and maybe some of the vaccines. Though, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but there's some interesting crap there... But that's a whole four paragraphs worth. I mean, on the subject of poisonous food - for God sakes, you drink a cup of tea not knowing just how much pesticide they probably sprayed on the tea leaves, you know? Now the U.S. is finally getting rid of dyes in food. Europe has been doing stuff like that and more for years!
At any rate, I think it's fare to say we all go through our own personal hell in this world. One person may look at another and think they have everything, they're all perfect and whatnot but don't know the actual truth... Life is school.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Looking at eBay for Sat phones, they are pretty pricey, though there are some from around $80 to $150. The damn calling cards though... That's at least $200 for 100 minutes that's good for 30 days. The card seems to expire in two years though, and according to ChatGPT you can activate via the phone its self without service, but that may or may not work. So that's a wrench in the gears. Especially on the monetary front. But would fit this particular issue.
I like the pedestal idea though. If you know where one is now that could be a benefit. But, what if POTS is down? I'm sure a lot of it is on a pole, you know?
Me being just me, I would never trust the cellular or POTS network during an act of God. Especially when public safety has high priority to use what may be a highly congested cell tower. I'd personally want to gravitate towards Satellite. So Starlink, InReach or T-mobile's Sat offering. Everything else HF... Well, in regards to SHTF sort of stuff at least.
I'm sorry about your predicament. I'm in the same rusty boat. My parents are not in the best of shape and my dad's kidneys are going way south and I'm betting he'll be in dialysis soon. While that's going on my mom needs a biopsy of a mass in her thyroid. She already had one half removed. Both parents take a freaking pharmacy in medication. One of which is a real wallet burner (Thanks Pfizer) since it's an FDA tier 1 (?) drug. I get tier 3 and tier 1 mixed up. Which ever is the most price rapey. Speaking of which, I always curse the TV with the big pharma Ads. Even have a bumper sticker that reads, "Ask your doctor if 25 pages of side effects is right for you!" To that end, I personally think there's a cure for cancer. All the millions and millions donated, the pink ribbon crap done to license plates and socks to the 4k run and walks. And God forbid you get cancer (I probably will one day). You lose your house, car, job, life savings - EVERYTHING, just to go to an expensive cancer treatment center, take experimental drugs (to their marketing/research benefit) and maybe live another two years or whatever. I say this because I've had more family members and family friends die of cancer I lost count. I'd have to literally think now how many there were. And yet Magic Johnson with full blown AIDS lives and lived past COVID.... Hmmmm. Money talks, BS walks.
On the subject of seizures, my sister went through that as a teenager. Just out of the blue she'd drop. I'll never forget back then as teenagers we both we're going back and fourth about who would die first. Right then and there she dropped and had a seizure. Unreal! Later on in the years they just went away. I have to wonder about our poisonous food... and maybe some of the vaccines. Though, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but there's some interesting crap there... But that's a whole four paragraphs worth. I mean, on the subject of poisonous food - for God sakes, you drink a cup of tea not knowing just how much pesticide they probably sprayed on the tea leaves, you know? Now the U.S. is finally getting rid of dyes in food. Europe has been doing stuff like that and more for years!
At any rate, I think it's fare to say we all go through our own personal hell in this world. One person may look at another and think they have everything, they're all perfect and whatnot but don't know the actual truth... Life is school.
I yield back the balance of my time.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Certainly an option. Make sure you keep a 7/16" and 3/8" can wrench or socket at hand to open the pedestal.
My brother in law has done exactly this when he ran across a bad accident in a very remote area with no cell coverage. Going to get more and more difficult to find working services in those as time goes on, though.
Sorry to hear that. All good reasons to do what you are doing.
I think finding someone's old Verizon phone would be your best/cheapest option.
Paying subscription fees for something you'll likely never use probably isn't a good investment. Plus, if you never use it, the chances of it not working when you really need it are high.
What about neighbors? Is there one close by that's on a different carrier?
I have one with those sizes on opposite ends. But the pedestal cover is never tighten down anyway, most of the time it's barely all the way down.
Honestly I've never asked them what carrier they use. I guess that's another option.
Hit_Factor
Member
Security uses a layered approach to close holes in a defensive strategy. You are pretty much doing the same thing for a comm strategy. The one thing we do know, there isn't one tech that solves the problem you are trying to solve.
The rain will stop and infrastructure will need to be rebuilt. Satellite comm of some sort is likely a solution.
In the rain my starlink slowed down, it still had plenty of bandwidth for text messaging. I know dispatch in Berrien County will respond to a text.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Yeah, I think I'm one of the few people in the world that actually tightens those down.
Also, before you open one, make sure you beat the hell out of it with the can wrench. Known gathering places for snakes, large spiders and other angry insects. Learned that the hard way.
A good neighbor is a great resource.
Good to know. Thanks!
I definately get the no EPIRBs. And, if you read the prohibited items on most cruise lines, InReach is not listed but it seems to fit in a grey area of no satellite devices. Not sure they would classify InReach as an EPIRB like device. Prohibiting scanners makes absolutely no sense either. On Viking cruises, they didn't care at all. Other cruise lines are hit or miss.
As noted, it may not work in heavy rains. Don't know if you've ever been through a hurricane or not, but you can (and we did) have heavy wind and rain for a long time, we had it around 6 hours during our last one. Unfortunately we were smack dab on the right front quadrant for hours and had felt the brunt for hours.
Again as noted, the pedestal is in my backyard (all our utilities are buried) and I'm well versed in the ways of telco.
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