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Asking to learn. I travel often all over India and most parts of Africa. I have consistently received cell phone signals in 90% of the places. Local sim cards a

by somberi 12y ago

Asking to learn. I travel often all over India and most parts of Africa. I have consistently received cell phone signals in 90% of the places. Local sim cards are easily available and the prices are ~20cents per message. In this context, I wonder the need of such a device. In fact having yet another device to charge is a bigger concern. I can see situations where this is helpful, but I think it is in the minority.

napoleond 12y ago
I have not been to Africa or India, but considering that it's easy to find areas of North America without cell phone coverage I find it very difficult to believe your assertion about 90% coverage. Even in cities, it seems from the comments here that there is some appeal to communicating "off the grid" as it were.
- ismail 12y ago
  His assertion is true, i have traveled to 4+ countries in africa, and live in one. I have yet to be without signal in all my travels. You would need to go really remote to find a place without signal. Even sparsely populated areas, backwaters are covered. The reason is communication infrastructure was pretty bad here, hence we leap frogged and mobile is primary means of communication. You also have the other challenge of copper being stolen, hence in some areas the only way for you to get comms (internet/phone) is via mobile.
  - com2kid 12y ago
    > I have yet to be without signal in all my travels. You would need to go really remote to find a place without signal. In contrast, I can travel ~20 minutes outside a major metropolitian area in the US (Seattle) and be without cell service. Heck I often am without cell service when I'm hiking. Then again I'm using a provider (T-Mobile) which is known to only work in metro areas!
    - somberi 12y ago
      I was going to write this part in my original email but wanted to stick to the main concern about use cases. I do live 3-4 months a year in NYC and in my pre-war building, T-mobile has spotty coverage. If I travel to Connecticut, 90 minutes away, there are many spots en-route where I do not get a signal.
byoung2 12y ago
I live in the US (Los Angeles) and there are plenty of places where this functionality (if not the form factor) would come in handy. For example, service can get spotty in underground parking structures (common in LA) making it impossible to text someone nearby to ask "where did you park?" Another place that has bad reception is Disneyland. There are no towers inside the park and the berm that separates the park from the city of Anaheim seems to block out signals pretty well, so this device would help groups keep in contact there. While traveling, two places that come to mind where cell reception is nonexistant would be hiking in the mountains or while at sea. My wife and I bring walkie-talkies on cruise ships, but an SMS is more discreet than a chirp and speakerphone.

by somberi 12y ago

napoleond 12y ago

I have not been to Africa or India, but considering that it's easy to find areas of North America without cell phone coverage I find it very difficult to believe your assertion about 90% coverage. Even in cities, it seems from the comments here that there is some appeal to communicating "off the grid" as it were.

ismail 12y ago
His assertion is true, i have traveled to 4+ countries in africa, and live in one. I have yet to be without signal in all my travels. You would need to go really remote to find a place without signal. Even sparsely populated areas, backwaters are covered. The reason is communication infrastructure was pretty bad here, hence we leap frogged and mobile is primary means of communication. You also have the other challenge of copper being stolen, hence in some areas the only way for you to get comms (internet/phone) is via mobile.
- com2kid 12y ago
  > I have yet to be without signal in all my travels. You would need to go really remote to find a place without signal. In contrast, I can travel ~20 minutes outside a major metropolitian area in the US (Seattle) and be without cell service. Heck I often am without cell service when I'm hiking. Then again I'm using a provider (T-Mobile) which is known to only work in metro areas!
  - somberi 12y ago
    I was going to write this part in my original email but wanted to stick to the main concern about use cases. I do live 3-4 months a year in NYC and in my pre-war building, T-mobile has spotty coverage. If I travel to Connecticut, 90 minutes away, there are many spots en-route where I do not get a signal.

byoung2 12y ago

I live in the US (Los Angeles) and there are plenty of places where this functionality (if not the form factor) would come in handy. For example, service can get spotty in underground parking structures (common in LA) making it impossible to text someone nearby to ask "where did you park?" Another place that has bad reception is Disneyland. There are no towers inside the park and the berm that separates the park from the city of Anaheim seems to block out signals pretty well, so this device would help groups keep in contact there. While traveling, two places that come to mind where cell reception is nonexistant would be hiking in the mountains or while at sea. My wife and I bring walkie-talkies on cruise ships, but an SMS is more discreet than a chirp and speakerphone.