Satellite phones and Disasters




What if a great big earthquake devastates all of Luzon or a catastrophic event like a regionwide-tsunami occurs in Mindanao or the Visayas... and all the landline connections conk out... cell sites suddenly stop from working? Not likely? Think again...

I read somewhere that during a disaster, everything that depends on infrastructure will not work. Forget mobile phones. Forget PDA's or wifis' or accessing ATM's.

Only a satellite phone can provide a direct voice to voice communication link during a disaster like Katrina perhaps, or the recent Asian tsunami.

The effects of global warming has finally dawned. Watch what's happening to the gulf states of the US. Typhoon signal level 5's occuring one after another in other parts of the world.

Is it time to rent a satellite phone?

Satellite phones can call landlines worldwide. It can call other satellite phones or do voice mail, can send SMS, or even make data calls. "Satellite calls are made through space. Earth stations and space-based backhaul routes phone call packets through space to downlinks or feeder links. Station to station calls can be routed directly through space with no downlink. As satellites leave the area of an earth base station the routing tables change and frames are forwarded to the next satellite just coming into view of the earth base station."

In the U.S. Motorola satellite phones are already being rented out just in case. Or to be better prepared to respond during emergencies.

Iridium Satellite, a service provider in the U.S claims 203,000 subscribers as of June 2007.

Locally, I believe Smart's beat Globe to the punch. It is now actively marketing its satellite phones to seafarers. This means that even at sea, seafarers can now be reached anytime, anyday.

Satellite phone handset made its first appearance in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. It was used by one of the villains in a scene set in Uganda. It was also featured frequently in another 2006 movie, Miami Vice.

But before deciding to get one, think about the cost. It is anything but cheap.

Popular posts from this blog

Intelligent car, anyone?

Image
I love intelligent or smart cars . I am sure you would too. 'The original idea behind the very short "smart car" was that the vehicle would be easy to park. It is short enough to allow it to be parked "nose-in" where a conventionally sized car would have to parallel park. Its length of 250 centimetres (98.4 in ) equals the width of a regular parking slot, allowing two or three smarts to park in the same space as one normal car if parked side-on to the usual parking direction'. Smart Car custom LCB (Lindt chocolate Bunny edition.) 'The project idea was originally started by Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch and was nicknamed the "Swatchmobile". The name SMART is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART . [1] [2] The car was supposed to use innovative features (such as a hybrid engine ) and to be an affordable car for young people. Similar to the objective for the Citroën 2CV in the 1940s , its purpose was to "transport two people and a...
Read more

Living with tropical cyclones

This time it is Juan; it almost totally devastated the province of Isabela and other nearby provinces. At the time I am writing this post there is a danger that it could return because it has remained quasi-stationary in the South China Sea. Rice warehouses, infrastructure, rice plantation in Isabela: everything almost wiped out. God help our country.
Read more

Thank God My Employer Took Out a Policy and so Did I

My life totally change when I got ill and was forced to resign from a full-time job. The pay was good but very stressful. I thought, yah, right. Now I can take a break. And what a break it was. My big hospital doctor and my family physician (FP) both discouraged me from leaving my job. Both were worried that since I was quite ill, the more I needed to work. What or who is going to answer my medical bills? If someone depends on you financially, the likelihood is that you need insurance. Whether it is health, life or business insurance it is a financial resource. Having left my regular employee arrangement, I managed to convince my bosses that they continue paying for my health insurance benefit in exchange for part time work. Reduced work load gave me time that I needed to attend to my illness. And it took a year before I completed all the necessary tests to give a conclusive medical prognosis. Thanks to my health care insurance I didn’t have to worry about payin...
Read more