"Mobile users diss premium content"

Not exactly. Probably true in the case of Katrina, however the mobile to mobile PTT works nationwide - and more. The company I work for has Nextel, and they use the PTT mobile to mobile feature in distances over

1,000 miles. Nextel Walkie Talkie - read about it.

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"Nextel=AE Walkie-Talkie Instantly connect with the world's largest walkie-talkie network including over 17 million people at the push of a button. Nextel's walkie-talkie service is built into every Nextel phone to help you get right through. Connect in under a second to any Nextel customer:

locally within your walkie-talkie calling area nationwide from coast to coast internationally between the U.S. and up to five countries"

Reply to
GomJabbar
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"There is no single phone that works everywhere except a satellite phone and although they are hand-held they don't work indoors."

"Finally, you should not expect to use your satellite phone with an artificial structure over your head."

I "guess" it all depends upon your "experience". ; O

Reply to
GomJabbar
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

You're confusing direct mobile to mobile, which works even when the infrastructure is down (an advantage of iDEN), and network PTT. Mobile to mobile only works over short distances. Network PTT, which is infrastructure-based, is what works over any distance.

Reply to
John Navas
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

FWIW, I have a good deal of experience with satellite phones, including Iridium. I've sometimes gotten connections through windows (standing right next to them). What's needed is a clear view of the satellite, which isn't necessarily overhead, which is why shelter is still possible.

Reply to
John Navas

Well..DUH, if most the phone lines were down, it WOULD be mobile to mobile.

So that's a just a guess on your part, right?

Cellular telephones and amateur radio were the most reliable methods of interoperable communication after Katrina.

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However,
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points out cellular was unreliable. [my comments on] Of course that would be true taken in the light if the cellular call was to a land-line, but no mention of mobile to mobile calls that are independent of the telco outside plant infrastructure. [comments off]

Paging was very reliable, "Paging services withstood Hurricane Katrina and were fully restored faster than wireline, cellular or broadband services,"

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Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

And how many satellite calls are completed from inside a structure?

Reply to
Scott
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Personal experience. Also patently obvious.

That's not what it says. Read more carefully.

Reply to
John Navas

Rubbish. Nextel advertised region-to-region and coast-to-coast "mobile to mobile" coverage. Of course in reality it is "mobile-to-network-to-mobile"

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

I am not confusing anything. And did I read correctly in your statement that iDEN actually does have an advantage?

Two words/phases stand out: "Sometimes" and "Clear View".

What makes you think that someone that needs to use a sat phone is: (1) going to have a window in the room where he needs to work that faces the necessary satellite, (2) that that person can stand right next to a window and get work done, (3) that in the case of a hurricane there is even a window that has glass left in it for protection from the elements?

Sure, under the right circumstances many things are "possible". Doesn't make them likely or feasible though.

Bottom line; the Nextel's got the job done. If it was otherwise, then the sat phones would have been ordered/used instead.

Reply to
GomJabbar
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Just like all other mobile phones. ;) In other words, not really mobile to mobile (an advantage of iDEN), and won't work when the network is down.

Reply to
John Navas
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

Yes -- direct mobile to mobile mode can be used when the network is down, unlike other mobile phone technologies, but of course only between iDEN devices.

Only in a limited way, just like other forms of walkie-talkie.

:

Gulf Disaster Fuels Demand for Iridium Phone Services

The booming demand for Iridium satellite phones by first responders along the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina caused the number of subscribers in the region to increase by more than 500 percent, the company said.

The U.S. government is the largest customer of Iridium Satellite LLC. In just the first 72 hours of the disaster, Iridium traffic in the region increased more than 3,000 percent.

To help Iridium meet the increased demand, the Federal Communications Commission moved quickly to grant use of additional spectrum to accommodate network traffic and, thus, minimize the risk of congestion resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

Iridium recently shifted to a 24/7 manufacturing schedule, the company said. FedEx was contracted to move equipment directly from the manufacturing facility into the field. Iridium also completed its first round of beta testing of its "group call push-to-talk" communications service.

This service overcomes the limitations of cellular, landline and radio networks in emergency scenarios. It allows multi-user communication "nets" from Iridium phones worldwide

:

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, on behalf of the Satellite Industry Association, I would like to thank you for holding this hearing today on public safety communications and the lessons learned from 9/11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I would also like to express my thanks to Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Abernathy, and Adelstein and the staff of the Federal Communications Commission. Their tireless efforts have greatly assisted us in supplying critical telecommunication resources to the Gulf Coast Region.

Satellite communications played a critical role during the response to these manmade and natural disasters. When the telephone and broadcast networks went down, satellites remained on the job. Satellites connected emergency personnel and other first responders. Satellites reunited families. Satellites reconnected communities. And, satellites enabled the world to witness the devastation of these disasters and also the many acts of heroism.

Although the performance of satellite systems was impressive, their use has often been limited by a lack of preparation. Had satellite systems been more effectively integrated into our emergency communications network, many of the communications problems that occurred in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi recently, and New York City after 9/11 would have been substantially mitigated. As FCC Chairman Martin recently stated, "if we learned anything from Hurricane Katrina, it is that we cannot rely solely on terrestrial communications".

:

In Maryland, several contingency plans provide communication safeguards, said John W. Droneburg III, director of the state emergency management agency. Among them are radios rechargeable by an automobile and the "almost cataclysmic-proof" satellite phone.

Although satellite phones are too expensive to distribute en masse to first-responders, they can serve as a bridge of communication until redundancies are established.

:

... There is a shortage of satellite phone capability and in addition, the process for frequency management was not responsive enough to meet the needs of deploying units. ... The primary equipment shortage we encountered was in the area of communications, i.e. satellite phones.

Communications can be improved immediately through more satellite phones, and preplanned interoperability for first responders and external agencies. ...

:

CHERTOFF: Well, actually, it's somewhat different. I mean, this is not an issue of lack of interoperability, where you had fire and police on different channels. This has to do with, again, the physical reality. The wireless towers are down. The land lines are flooded. That leaves only one other kind of communications method, and that's by satellite phone or by walkie-talkie. ...

CHERTOFF: That's right. And so, we have people equipped with satellite phones. We have the military in there with walkie-talkies. However, people who have cell phones are not going to have cell phone service. It's not a question of preparedness. It's a question of the physical reality that when the towers are down there's no cell phone service.

So, the responders, the National Guard, have their walkie- talkies. We have emergency communications vehicles in New Orleans. We have satellite phones with the first responders. But in terms of people's ordinary phone and communication service, I've got to tell you, Soledad, no amount of preparedness is going to eliminate the physical reality that without wireless towers, there's no cell phone service.

:

Simone Marstiller: The STO team worked round the clock for weeks as hurricane after hurricane hit Florida. We worked with all the relevant telecommunication companies to get mobile cellular and satellite units to the hard hit areas. We worked to ensure the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System remained functioning throughout--which it did. We got satellite phones into the hands of first responders. My team is awesome!

Enough? ;)

Reply to
John Navas

Unquestionably! Now name all the circumstances under which that cannot happen. :)

Reply to
clifto

I'm not the only one who's reported strange readings like that in sci.geo.satellite-nav. You just haven't hit the right conditions yet.

Reply to
clifto

Perhaps (my long experience notwithstanding). Or perhaps I simply have better units, not to mention redundancy.

Reply to
John Navas

Not relevant. Unconfirmable. Only anecdotal evidence.

You'll have to do better than that.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

As usual, your deflecting the topic. YOU were referring to true device-to-device range of only a few miles and Nextel advertises network interface which would be what users use. Oh never mind..your argument is getting pathetic.

[please insert your last word below]
Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

You have that backwards.

Not when the network is down, as it was in this context.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Reply to
John Navas

Sure, the government used Iridium satellite phones. They don't worry about the bill coming due. They just add it to the deficit. Just look at the ice fiasco. How much was spent on ice - for nothing? And just how well did the government's intracommunications work anyway? The news reports at the time tell the story. How long did it take the levee breach and other important communiqu=E9s to reach the appropriate authorities that weren't physically in New Orleans?

The federal and state government, FEMA, et al had to communicate to Washington, Baton Rouge and elsewhere for their needs. What I was really referring to was locals communicating amongst themselves to get things done. The Mississippi River Pilots and harbor tugs chose Nextel's and VHF radio's for their communications. Nextel's worked well for the local necessary businesses to communicate with their employees. They worked for intracity communications when other forms of communication did not. Nextel's had a use, when other carrier's cell phones were just so much baggage.

"Enough?" you say? You always have more than enough to say. I don't think you will ever run out of words. Oh if I could wish.......

Reply to
GomJabbar
[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In fact our government hasn't spent all that much on first responders, a very foolish national disgrace. Instead we pour huge amounts of borrowed money into the ill-conceived war in Iraq, which only serves to decrease our security. Go figure.

Have a nice day.

Reply to
John Navas

No, you didn't mention how many Nextel phones were brought in.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

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