3 ms·

I was in Joplin right after the tornado and had a somewhat different experience. I grew up there and my folks still lived there at the time not far from St. Jo

by msisk6 10y ago

I was in Joplin right after the tornado and had a somewhat different experience. I grew up there and my folks still lived there at the time not far from St. Johns Hospital (the one that was hit and featured in most of the news). I was working at a startup in Oregon when a friend in Joplin called right after the tornado went though town. A quick look at the news told me all I needed to know and I immediately packed up my Jeep with emergency supplies and headed out for a non-stop drive from Portland to Joplin. I got there late on the 2nd day and the place was still in shambles. No cell signal in the disaster zone at all. My folks house was spared major damage (neighbors on either side and behind weren't so lucky) but they lost power, cable, and land-line when a falling tree ripped the feeds and power meter off the house. I had an AT&T phone and it was mostly useless for about a week. Even after the temp towers went up (and there was one not very far away) the network was saturated with emergency workers. OTOH, my Iridium worked just fine. Too bad my folks didn't have one -- I didn't know their status until I got there in person. I'm don't see a whole lot of value in a device like this. Any sort of natural disaster is likely to tear up the infrastructure a traditional cell phone depends on.

hga 10y ago
Ah, I make no claims about how good cell phone coverage was in the disaster area for the first week, mostly about how it was if you just traveled a short distance from it. Although I think I recall it not being bad in subsequent weeks, and, I would be using it from the edge of the zone of total destruction, and a hundred feet or so away from what was likely a tower of my provider. But I wasn't using it heavily there, at most for coordination while on-site removing stuff from my apartment. You were also several miles to my west, in the direction the tornado came from. I also had the advantage of being on a hill, that might not have been true for you. But we agree in that such a device is not to be depended upon; I'd say at best something to hold in reserve, and mention of affordable emergency Iridium systems like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11701692 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11701692 has gotten my interest.

by msisk6 10y ago

hga 10y ago

Ah, I make no claims about how good cell phone coverage was in the disaster area for the first week, mostly about how it was if you just traveled a short distance from it. Although I think I recall it not being bad in subsequent weeks, and, I would be using it from the edge of the zone of total destruction, and a hundred feet or so away from what was likely a tower of my provider. But I wasn't using it heavily there, at most for coordination while on-site removing stuff from my apartment. You were also several miles to my west, in the direction the tornado came from. I also had the advantage of being on a hill, that might not have been true for you. But we agree in that such a device is not to be depended upon; I'd say at best something to hold in reserve, and mention of affordable emergency Iridium systems like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11701692 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11701692 has gotten my interest.