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?

Comments

Group Responsibility.

[Fritzed]

Personally I don't think it is the job of individuals to find a way to communicate post-tragedy. I think it is simply a matter of the ways out there being redesigned so that they don't all get clogged in such a way. Fiberoptic communication lines for the internet could allow many many people to communicate at once no matter what is going on.
And also, I just don't worry about it. What happens happens and no matter how prepared you are, if it's bad enough, you won't be fully prepared.
->Fritz

That's easy.

[heldlikesound]

It is your duty as an American to carry around a satalite phone in a backpack, ala Zach Morris from Saved By The Bell. Who do you turn to for such a beast? Iridium of course. After eleven rounds of refinancing, they are back in full force, with even bigger phones and more ridiculous rates. Anthrax scare in L.A.? Call your family in San Diego and let them know you're alright, or at least not dead, for the low, low, comforting price of $24.99 per minute.