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Can You Hear Me Now?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the saved-by-the-bell dept.

squarefish writes "CNN has this story about a hiker stranded in South America's Andes mountains when a blizzard begins. He reaches into his backpack for his cell phone -- only to find his prepaid minutes are up. Out of nowhere, a phone company solicitor is calling on his cell phone, asking if he would like to buy more time. Is this convenient or what?"

3 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. hrm. 911 (at least in the US) by laymil · · Score: 5, Interesting

    as far as i know, you are still able to make emergency (911) calls from a cell phone even if it has no service agreement. however, seeing as it wasn't the united states, more power to the sales guy or something.
    next we'll be hearing a story about how spam saved someone's life. (i don't care whether its the canned or electronic kind, would be interesting either way :))

  2. full of holes by jeff67 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...surviving for 24 hours with his only warmth coming from carefully measured dozes[sic] of brandy.
    Alcohol only gives the perception of warmth. It does it by dilating blood vessels in the skin. The result is you lose heat faster. Drinking when you're really cold is a good way to get dead.

    Besides, chilling your battery will not revive it. It will only slow down power loss.

    What a stupid article!
  3. About signals on top of mountains by olethrosdc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to get signals on top of mountains. Why? Because at the top of the mountain you have line-of-sight with many different ground antennas. It is the same reason that you get a good 'view' :)

    Also, from my personal experience in the Alpes, phones seem to work pretty well at high altitudes - so much, that I even get signals from neighbouring countries' networks sometimes. The major problem with large height is that your cellphone might appear in many cells simultaneously and the networks might become confused. (And this could be one of the reasons why you can't use a cellphone inside an airplane)

    As far as the batteries are concerned.. I am aware that lower temperatures lower the reaction strength => the internal resistance of the battery increases => it becomes unusable very quickly. However it works again when it becomes warm. This does appear bogus...

    ... what do you expect from a story related with telemarketers and reported by Journalists working in US Media Conglomerate B]

    --

    I miss my rubber keyboard.(Homepage)