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Using a Wireless Network for Personal Emergencies?
An anonymous reader asks: "A friend asked me this today and as I began to think about an answer I realized it made for a perfect Ask Slashdot question. His question was: 'Now that our illustrious Attorney General has gone as far as to suggest that families put in place an emergency communications system between themselves, I'm shopping for the right solution. I think RIM because it allows me to enter text and to rely on the pager network rather than the cell network. But the last that I looked, it was still impossible to do without my own server. Enlightened Ones: what suggestions might you have that would allow us to each have something in our pockets and is most likely to be fault tolerant to a messy event?' Having had the experience of using my Crackberry in NYC on 9/11 as the only stable means of contact, I too wonder whether this is the next big thing? So I turn the question over to you at Slashdot -- If you were in need of a hand-held, wireless data device and wanted to use a data network which was likely to survive, what would you use? Which arcane pager or emergency information networks were designed for survival? What if you wanted it to easily work with POP email? How about for reasonable data rates?" Assuming we are not quote to the point of a truly fault-tolerant network, what would need to happen for it to become reality? Which provider is close to putting something like this together?
In Finland, just about every square is covered with GSM networks. ;)
GSM phones have text messaging, voice messaging and some newer phones have built-in digital cameras and multimedia messaging.
The GSM network is quite fault-tolerant too and everyone carries around their phone everywhere.
I understand you still live in a 80's world on the other side of the ocean, so your cellular technology maybe isn't very advanced. You have "pager networks"?
Yup, and carry a portable radio with you if you're scared of catastrophic events. Radio is the one service which should survive any catastrophic event - when the public (govt) radio doesn't survive, it's likely the whole place was wiped out and there are no survivors.
Unless you have a crazy dictator at the head of the country. When Romania was struck by a massive earthquake in the 70's, the radio went silent, even though most people were alright and it could have transmitted. Why? Because they needed to ask for Ceaucescu's permission to announce on the radio that there had been an earthquake, and he was away on holiday somewhere. Thus for several hours the rest of the civilised world thought that Romania had been wiped off the map by this earthquake...
But normally, radio is one thing which has enough backups everywhere that it will survive.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Ham radio is exaclty what you are looking for
Blackberry can be run without the dedicated server. Usually an Internet email account is used. But you are not reliant on the email account. Blackberry can send messages directly from one unit to another. Running with the dedicated server is more secure if that matters. For details read the white papers from RIM
That said I don't think that Blackberries for all the family is the best solution. As they use the Mobitex network they are less prone to saturation then cell phones. However Blackberry is still reliant on a mobitex tower. A single point of failure. Unless you can get a super deal on the units and a monthly plan I can't imagine that Blackberry is the most affordable option either.
The best most reliable solution is probably HAM radios. A 50w mobile (installed in the cars, and at a home base) can probably give you the coverage you need even if all of the many repeaters in your area fail, and become saturated. A tiny little handheld (yeasu vx5r) would be enough to reach a repeater in most cities. There is a downside. You and your family must be good radio citizens and know how to operate your radios, and how to communicate with other radio operators. In a true crisis you will require the good will and assistance of other radio operators.
Why would I try to overpopulate yet another medium to tell mom and dad I'm OK while there are emergency sevices that might have used the bandwidth to communicate something more meaningful? If I'm OK, I will be OK ...
;) don't begrudge families the ability (or desire) to stay in touch.
You make a lot of assumptions in your statement.
First, no personal emergency communications should ever go on an emergency or restricted band. While I'm not a radio expert, most of the fire department radios I've seen can't make major changes in frequency like the radios on Star Trek do. It's unlikely that using CB or HAM radio is going to make things difficult for the authorities.
Second, you're assuming the situation is static -- people are either OK, or they're not. In the case of natural disasters (flood, tornado, hurricane), someone may assume they're alright, but the situation could change in hours (or minutes in the case of tornado). That backup communications system may be the only way to call for help.
Third, the communications you provide may be important for the people "down the line". Spreading word about the effected areas may help other people avoid clogged roads, or know that loved ones in other areas are alright.
Fourth, many humans are social creatures with responsibilities beyond themselves. Worrying about a loved one is nearly as bad as hearing that they died. If the person is a victim -- either injured or a fatality -- there will be numerous arrangements to be made. Just because you live in your parents basement