NEWS: Verizon and AT&T May Both Get Apple Tablet

I believe you declared "it is a myth"...

Would that Navas was in fact a myth...

Iridium phones use satellites, not cellular radio.

It is, therefore, not a cell phone.

He's apparently not familiar with the technology.

OK. Enjoy your personal hobby, just as I enjoy mine. Just don't expect me to take it any more seriously than any other personal hobby.

The cost has come down considerably, making it a practical option for many situations where safety is important, such as offshore boating and hiking in remote areas. PLB is another good safety option, but lacks the two-way communications capability of sat phone. Likewise SPOT. All are far better than cellular in an emergency, particularly sat phone.

It's not two tin cans and a string either. Perhaps you should broaden your horizons. ;)

No, it didn't. You may not have been able to call in on whatever systems you were using, but I was able to call out, and was receiving text messages. Perhaps you should broaden your horizons. ;)

Overloading is indeed the usual problem, not failure of infrastructure. It would be wildly unrealistic to expect the infrastructure to support everyone trying for dial tone at the same time -- we're not paying for anywhere near that much capacity. Wireless messaging is the recommended way to keep in touch during emergencies while minimizing load on the infrastructure.

Quite a few in my experience.

Nonsense.

It's not going through aluminum siding -- signal must be getting through in other ways. See

Not yet anyway. See

Just be careful the door doesn't smack you on the tush on the way out! :)

NavASS isn't familiar with much of anything, but he'll tell you ALL about it, anyway.

On a monthly rotation.

"Q: Why does the Motorola travel charger..."

Since when is Tonopah in Utah?

Of course it was the overloading. Failure is failure.

San Francisco could not be reached for hours after the earthquake. The failure was either in San Bernardino county or it was in the San Francisco area. I know where I'm putting my money.

My hand is raised.

There was cell service AND WiFi internet signal at Black Rock City in

2009. I expect the same will be true again this year. There has also been a VoIP-over-802.11-over-microwave payphone (free, no coins required) at BRC every year since 2004.

In years past when there wasn't any cell service, they had ham service to connect to public safety services (fire, police, etc.) for emergencies.

jc

In other words, you don't know, can't answer, have no cites, and want me to do the research to prove it?

Welcome to the world of what we who are actually in the communications business refer to as the "media expert" (and why the media gets it wrong most of the time).