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Mobile Cell Phone Towers For Disaster Relief

Posted by timothy on from the well-seattle's-a-reception-disaster dept.

cerberus4696 writes "According to today's Denver Post, Verizon recently premiered one of its new Cells On Light Trucks (COLTs), a complete, self-contained CDMA cell that can be moved to wherever it's needed, such as the scene of a natural disaster or a large public event. Since a standard CDMA cell can only handle a theoretical maximum of 62 calls at a time (usually less in practice), the network of permanent fixtures can quickly become overloaded in high-use situations. Verizon already uses a larger version of the system known as a Cell On Wheels (or COW; gotta love these acronyms), but as it takes three trucks and the better part of a day to deploy, nimbleness of response has apparently been an issue."

4 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. wow, only 62 calls at once? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That seems really limited. Hell, I bet my local high school would saturate a cell every time class let out, there were always people making calls or listening to messages. I'm surprised I don't see more towers with the number of cell phones I see daily. Of course, I am from Seattle, so the lousy reception they mention applies to me :(.

    Anonymous Coward

  2. 9-11 used something like this by PenguinRadio · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Near the Pentagon in the first days after the attack they put up some towers and said they were using it to triangulate the location of cell phones that might still be on and inside the rubble. It ended up staying there for about six months or so.

  3. Re:So... by daringone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you're on a network that promises "No Roaming" such as Sprint's Fair and Flexible America or Alltel's Total Freedom, it shouldn't matter what company puts up the tower... you can use it.

  4. Blimps by Omega1045 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why not a blimp with CDMA cells tied to an anchor (truck, etc) with power running from the anchor? Seriously, you could probably tow a launch platform (uhaul sized trailer) behind a small pickup, suv, van etc with an He supply and a generator.

    You drive to site, inflate, and let her pop-up. Crank up your Honda generator and away you go. And now let the EEs shoot down my idea (not literally).

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein