It's been a while since there's been a phone feature that I've really wanted. I spend a lot of time mountain biking outside of cell range and this would be a nice feature to have. Hope it makes its way to Android soon.
Emergency SOS via satellite
301–310 of 479 posts
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#302I was just on the ground coordinating with 4 friends that got buried in 5+ foot of unexpected snow in the mountains (forecast said 1"-2" when they went up) for the rifle opener in Montana. I wound up getting sick so I stayed home (hilariously I was the only one who got an elk) but I sent them up with my InReach. All I can say is THANK GOD that I did, because it turned into over a week long effort to get them out. Two…
If you're seriously going to go into the back country in the rural western US states and Canada, and you have a good paying professional job, there is no excuse, in my opinion, not to spend $1000 on a full capability Iridium handset and the $50/month service plan that goes with it. If you really NEED to use it you won't care that it costs $1.20 a minute to make a call.
https://www.iridium.com/products/iridium-9555/
People will happily spend $700 on an Arcteryx jacket and $400 boots but won't buy an Iridium handset. I truly don't understand.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
For Emergency services there is no “activate and pay later” because you don’t need to activate, and you don’t need to pay. If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911.
>If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911. Did you mean to say "work AS if you're calling 911"? The emergency message via satellite function has to be explicitly used instead of just calling 911
Sure, kind of nitpicky, but sure.
To the average user, they will try to dial 911, the iPhone won’t be able to complete a cellular 911 call and will then present the user with the UI for sending an emergency message to first responders. I don’t really see the need for distinction, except between an iPhone 14 and a 13, or an android, which would fail to make the 911 call and that’s it.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Search and Rescue is one of the few services that is almost uniformly free [1]. I wonder if this will remain true once everyone with an iPhone has access to it. The increase in volume could easily overwhelm the volunteers, no?
The next couple years will give us more concrete numbers, but based on my personal experience, I doubt this will change call volume significantly. We're mostly seeing dramatically increased call volume due to more people being involved in backcountry recreation and less so due to increased comms coverage through cell or satellite devices. While there is the argument that these devices give increased peace of mind tha…
> Subjects needing rescue are still usually hesitant to call for rescue and usually try to self extricate
Someone with the knowledge and foresight to bring along a Garmin or PLB or something probably has a decent understanding of what it means to use it - waking people up and deploying expensive assets - and because of that I can see why they'd probably hesitate (it surely would trigger my "I don't want to be a bother" instinct).
I hope once every iPhone user has the same capability that it doesn't become an "eternal September"-like moment and flip too far the other way into overly casual use.
Regardless, you're much closer to the situation than I am so I'll defer to your expertise. Clearly, more communications in an emergency is always going to be better, so I look forward to seeing stories about how this new feature saves lives.
And thanks for your efforts in providing rescue services to the people who need them!
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#305As a ham radio evangelist, I'm slightly sad that our radio service has become a bit more irrelevant as a backcountry backup or emergency comms solution, thanks to this, the SPOT/inreach messager, and general LEO satellite broadband internet access, but more happy that it's here, since these systems are FAR more accessible, reliable, and easy to use for SOS or way-off-grid general communications.
Ham radio still has it's place for first-response communications relief and health & welfare checks, and search-and-rescue (generally where other radio or internet systems are offline, aren't installed, or aren't reliable) as well as just being a fun hobby.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, I'm not sure this is good advice. Two-way commiunicators are vastly preferred by Search and Rescue organizations. The reason for this is that they can learn about what they need to do and who they need to send to you, because they can ask you. If you have a broken leg, they'll send in 10 people to get you out. Dehydrated? Two responders and water. Calls that come in from "dumb" communicators like PLBs are m…
I'm on a SAR team. We literally deployed 10 people on both PLB's and Inreaches last winter. SAR people are cheap
Totally.
It sounds like your team has the advantage of having a large volunteer corpus. I wish they all did.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#307I was just on the ground coordinating with 4 friends that got buried in 5+ foot of unexpected snow in the mountains (forecast said 1"-2" when they went up) for the rifle opener in Montana. I wound up getting sick so I stayed home (hilariously I was the only one who got an elk) but I sent them up with my InReach. All I can say is THANK GOD that I did, because it turned into over a week long effort to get them out. Two…
> there needs to be a "use it now, pay later" or no one is going to activate it and actually have it available when they need it I've been solo hiking, running, kayaking, and biking in areas without cell service since before cell phones were things people carried. Haven't needed emergency search-and-rescue in 20 years, so it's just never seemed like a good investment...that's $3600 I could have 'wasted' on a service…
Depending on the location, perhaps getting your amateur radio license and a radio with APRS on it might help fill in some of the coverage gaps. I've heard (though cannot confirm personally) that there is often APRS coverage in remote areas that are otherwise not served by cellular.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#308Apple is building up a nice portfolio of life-saving features. Currently we have fall detection, a-fib detection, crash detection, satellite communication. These are all solid value-adds and differentiators from the competition. I'm not sure if they amount to a strong selling point for _everyone_ yet, but I'm sure that's where Apple is headed. I am extremely bullish on Apple's ability to measure health signals in the…
> a-fib detection
As a paramedic, not a physician, atrial fibrillation is not a life threatening event. Many people happily live with it for decades, unmedicated. It is more problematic if you are diabetic or hypertensive, but still not an acute medical event.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm on a SAR team. We literally deployed 10 people on both PLB's and Inreaches last winter. SAR people are cheap
SAR people may largely be volunteers, but helicopters have fairly expensive operational costs. In time-sensitive situations, it is better to have two way communications (because it keeps SAR as inexpensive as possible). See my sister comment for my wife's experience.
Those two operations were made using snow mobiles, but yes, as soon as helicopters com into the picture, the costs skyrocket.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#310I was digging up and replacing a piece of my well-line, in the dark because that's always when my well line breaks, and my phone accidentally called the police through what must have been some serious jostling. The dispatch seemed understanding, and used the opportunity to verify that my phone connectivity was coming from where it said I was. Later that night, two sheriffs show up around midnight to make sure that ev…
Apple's phone app has one HUGE design failure: touching anything in the app will dial a number immediately. I have accidentally called back phone spammers. It made elderly parents scared to use their phone. I've had many many friends butt-dial me. There should absolutely be an option that is on, or can be enabled: confirm before calling. In the case of emergency calling, they should figure out how to confirm before c…
> Apple's phone app has one HUGE design failure: touching anything in the app will dial a number immediately
Agreed 100%. I hate that I have to be super careful and really think through each time I press something to make sure it's not going to be a shortcut that immediately dials a phone number. I too have called spammers back.