Disposable Cellphones

A

A.C

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
45
Hey everyone
I was wondering if you have disposable cellphones as part of your BOB or survival kits. ive got some flares, fleece blankets, a shovel (folding), a saw( metal and wood) and money, and lots of change as well as a one month survival food pack ( it comes with gourmet meals and stuff). Ive also got some solid Duck tape the really good kind and some 100 mile tape. apart from that ive got a sanitized sealed medical aid kit, and paracord, different knives both fixed blades and folders of various kinds. and a PUR water purifer as well as water purification tablets, a mess kit and my favorite sierra wood zip stove.
Was wondering what you think of dispoassable cellphones where you use em and they last about an hr worth for about 10 or 20 bucks i think it is.
 
I just wanted to mention a few things about cell phones I noticed during the earthquake we had here in Washington last year. I was working in the a suburban area with good cell coverage. Within moments of the quake, the cell lines were all down. I hadn't heard of any towers being toppled, so I assume that this was the result of the flood of calls after the quake. Local long distance (to the office in my case) was also out. I didn't try any out of state numbers (though I should have called my folks - bad son!:( ). Anyway, the majority of the land lines were still functioning. I called my wife from a restaurant about an hour later and had no trouble getting a connection.

Cell phones are great for personal emergencies (car dies, etc.), and I don't leave the house without mine. I pay about $35 per month for mine, plus the $100 or so I paid initially for the phone. At $20, a disposable sounds like cheap insurance, and there's no good reason not to have one. That being said, I don't expect mine to work reliably during any sort of major disruption, natural or otherwise.

Patrick
 
Outdoors,

The cellular towers are only a part of the system. If there is damage to the transmission facilities (broken fibreoptic lines, or displaced microwave paths), or if there is damage to the switching facilities, the cellular system will go down. But, a cell phone is still a good backup for your landline.

n2s
 
I heard that In nyc on sept 12 they shut down all cellular comms to stop rapid spread of panic. So not alot of use in something like that either.
 
Originally posted by Stoned_elf
I heard that In nyc on sept 12 they shut down all cellular comms to stop rapid spread of panic. So not alot of use in something like that either.
Click to expand...

HMMM. Now that's an interesting thought. It might have been intentional.
P.

Not2Sharp,
I don't think it was a hardware damage issue in this case, since we occasionally got through (like 1/20 calls). Good points though.

Patrick
 
About an hour from Manhattan, on the afternoon of 11 September, I was able to complete sporatic cellular connections only after continuously redialing. This let me to believe that a flood of calls overloaded the system's ability to connect calls. Once connected, I was able to communicate, but connecting was quite a chore.

This was, to a more severe extent, what can be experienced at Daytona Bike Week sometimes, when you just cannot get a connection through, but can have a decent quality of communication once connected.
 
In a life or death situation it is acceptable to use a HAM radio with or without a licenss. It is more reliable than cellular. This has been proven dozens of times. A ham radio may cost $100 to $1200. A lot of money if you never use it. Most Ham radios will recive police and fire frequences too.

The other option is a scanner. Cheaper to buy. Probably useful in a disaster. One way only.

These FRS radio are everywhere now. It is very likely that you will be able to contact someone with those. There cheap too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top