On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Bob Bruninga <[email protected]> wrote: > The issue here is not the failure of the cell site, it is the 10 million > people that all try to use their cell phones at once. It takes days for > people to get their "urgent calls through" before the load goes down enough > to have any hope of getting in. But like in Haiti, even after a few days, > the emergency persisted and still everyone needed to use their phones for > urgent requirements and so the load on the few hundered cell channels > persisted.... > > At least until most people's batteries went dead (due to no power) and only > after most of those phones became useless was the demand low enough for > those still with enough charge to get a call through. > > Again, this is my assumption, not known to be fact. But the fact of > cellphone LOAD after a wide area emergency totally blocking service is > pretty much fact.
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2010/03/faster-mobile-broadband-driven-by-congestion-not-speed.ars/ Though I agree with you to some extent (certainly where I live!), the explosion of smartphones will drive the networks to be able to handle larger capacities and you will be able to get through faster. I truly believe RF's real value in an emergency is that anyone can setup a communication station in minutes because the barrier to entry is very small, i.e. its the response time which is its greatest asset. -aps (KC2ZSX) _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
