What to do in the event there is no cell service?

A couple days with no phone calls or cable services might be just what a lot of people need. They might actually have to talk to someone else face to face.

People survived without cell phones for years.
 
Also, has anyone considered getting a satellite phone for emergency purposes? At first glance it seems there are options out there that would keep a sat phone available for emergency use for only a few hundred dollars a year. Seems like it might be worthwhile...

that would be a good option for people in remote areas but I question the worth of the expense to reward if you're in a developed area. consider that if all these services are down any sort of response is going to be severely delayed anyway. so who ya gonna call?

akin to the sat phone, in a wilderness type bonafide emergency good alternatives would include using your radio to contact:

  • Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16 (near the coast/station obviously)
  • Civilian airplanes (more common in remote location like Alaska)
  • Commercial airplanes (last resort, but they can relay your position to air traffic control and they'll probably hand it off to S&R/coast guard)


I've been drafting a list of frequencies to keep handy (e.g. printed out!) with my radio. I'll post it in a new thread for feedback.
 
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If you still have web service, I'm playing with Google Voice on Hangouts with my Android-based phone for a Plan B if the cell towers are down or clogged. It uses the internet to call instead of the cell towers. Details are here.

YMMV.
 
Your Internet connection comes from the cell towers, however.

I was thinking of a scenario with the electricity on, home wifi working, cell towers overloaded or off-line. You are right, though: If the electric is out and the cable is out, no internet connection, no phone calls using hangouts and Google Voice.
 
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