This is pretty wrong. Cell phones that can talk to satellites do exist. They are expensive and people don’t feel like buying them.
Mobile cell phone base stations can be moved around and put where needed. If you have an area with people in it that can’t communicate, then already we have the abiltiy to send other people in with cell base stations and set them up. If people can’t get to a population that has lost touch to see what’s up, it means they can’t or won’t. “Falling off the grid” is enough of a cry for help already for a terrestrial population.
Cell is not the only way to communicate. Plenty of long distance radio communications exist. For a few hundred bucks you can buy a ham radio that will let you communicate 1⁄4 of the way around the world without breaking a sweat. If you think this is important, buy one and keep it in your safe room with your 3 years of canned food, bottled water, generators, rifles and dieself fuel. Whatever happens you will have a superb chance of reaching another ham operator out of your area and telling giving her the 411 on your 911.
The point of cell is CHEAP and UBIQUITOUS. Saying every cell should be able to reach a satellite in case of emergency is like saying every car should be able to do 200 mph and carry 5000 pounds of freight. It is not an idea that anybody who understands economics or engineering would resonate with.
Yes, satellite phones are expensive, heavy and bulky. However, that is almost entirely the result of features that aren’t needed for emergency use: ability to receive (as opposed to just sending), bandwidth sufficient for voice calls, and reserved capacity for routine use. Eliminate these requirements, and it gets a whole lot cheaper and easier. Add a parabolic dish to the receiving satellite, and it wouldn’t even require any hardware changes to the phone, just firmware changes.
Cell-to-satellite communication can be cheap and ubiquitous, it just isn’t because no one’s tried to make it so.
This is pretty wrong. Cell phones that can talk to satellites do exist. They are expensive and people don’t feel like buying them.
Mobile cell phone base stations can be moved around and put where needed. If you have an area with people in it that can’t communicate, then already we have the abiltiy to send other people in with cell base stations and set them up. If people can’t get to a population that has lost touch to see what’s up, it means they can’t or won’t. “Falling off the grid” is enough of a cry for help already for a terrestrial population.
Cell is not the only way to communicate. Plenty of long distance radio communications exist. For a few hundred bucks you can buy a ham radio that will let you communicate 1⁄4 of the way around the world without breaking a sweat. If you think this is important, buy one and keep it in your safe room with your 3 years of canned food, bottled water, generators, rifles and dieself fuel. Whatever happens you will have a superb chance of reaching another ham operator out of your area and telling giving her the 411 on your 911.
The point of cell is CHEAP and UBIQUITOUS. Saying every cell should be able to reach a satellite in case of emergency is like saying every car should be able to do 200 mph and carry 5000 pounds of freight. It is not an idea that anybody who understands economics or engineering would resonate with.
Yes, satellite phones are expensive, heavy and bulky. However, that is almost entirely the result of features that aren’t needed for emergency use: ability to receive (as opposed to just sending), bandwidth sufficient for voice calls, and reserved capacity for routine use. Eliminate these requirements, and it gets a whole lot cheaper and easier. Add a parabolic dish to the receiving satellite, and it wouldn’t even require any hardware changes to the phone, just firmware changes.
Cell-to-satellite communication can be cheap and ubiquitous, it just isn’t because no one’s tried to make it so.