I’m wondering how low it will take this service to be completely overwhelmed by non emergency use. People already call 911 all day for things that aren’t true emergencies… how will this service cope with that?
Emergency SOS via satellite
431–440 of 479 posts
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#432Earlier quoted context omitted.
First off, super glad to hear your friends are out of the field safe. Want to address one point however: "The SOS button is very expensive. Extremely expensive" In my experience on multiple SAR teams (Search and Rescue), this is almost never the case in North America. Search and Rescue is one of the few services that is almost uniformly free [1]. Thousands and thousands of volunteer hours every year keep it that way.…
While this is great to know, the SOS button is still fundamentally potentially a completely open-ended liability if you haven't taken Garmin's 30 buck annual insurance option for it. Even with that, you are only capped at $50k to best of my knowledge. Your Utah example illustrates this. In a real SOS situation the cost is likely immaterial, but I can absolutely understand why people would wait a bit longer than they…
> capped at $50k
oh well thank God for that. this won't bankrupt anyone.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#433Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you sure of that? I can find no info nor claims of inReach devices doing anything voice-wise, even when paired with a phone.
I think I didn't write that clear enough :) I haven't used mine like this so far.. but you can pair the garmin to a phone(via the connect app) and make a call from the phone using the garmin as an antenna so to speak, you cannot talk or hear anything on it(the garmin inReach).
You can pair the Garmin to a phone. You cannot make calls from that phone over the inreach network.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#434From the article: > A text compression algorithm was also developed to reduce the average size of messages by 300 percent I don't think that's how percentages work.
Also, a 75% reduction (which I assume was meant by their 300 percent) is not that impressive when it comes to text compression. I'd guess that should be easily reachable with zstd by just creating a pre-shared dictionary generated from a bunch of typical emergency messages. Especially when those messages are partially auto-generated by a wizard-style questionnaire and will thus adhere to a previously-known structure…
My guess is 67% reduction.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#435I’m wondering how low it will take this service to be completely overwhelmed by non emergency use. People already call 911 all day for things that aren’t true emergencies… how will this service cope with that?
Doesn't matter IMO. Globalstar was barely afloat in revenues of <$100m annually before the deal, now they've already made triple that. The investments to their satellite network will likely move proportionally to the load that Apple users draw from it. Again, they weren't a highly successful business to begin with, so the concern of Apple users hogging bandwidth from non-Apple users is slim.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#436Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does InReach require a monthly cost? Alternatively, you can spend about $200 one time on a personal locator beacon that requires no ongoing costs. It can't do two-way communication but activating it sends out a specific frequency picked up by satellites and is the equivalent of calling 911. Rescuers will come to help you. All serious hikers and outdoor adventurers should carry a personal locator beacon.
It does, I have the fancier inReach - the one that can make calls and texts without being tethered to an iphone. The service runs $15 a month for the basic service and scales up depending on how many texts a month you want to use. I wouldn't ditch it for an iphone 14 as it is way more rugged and in really cold climates(I live near the mountains) a iphone will rapidly discharge its battery and will be useless. I final…
The Garmin inReach cannot make phone calls in any way or configuration.
It can send & receive text messages either by itself (that's a pain since you have to select letters one by one with arrow keys, but it works) or paired to a supported external device like a tablet.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#437Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does InReach require a monthly cost? Alternatively, you can spend about $200 one time on a personal locator beacon that requires no ongoing costs. It can't do two-way communication but activating it sends out a specific frequency picked up by satellites and is the equivalent of calling 911. Rescuers will come to help you. All serious hikers and outdoor adventurers should carry a personal locator beacon.
Actually, I'm not sure this is good advice. Two-way commiunicators are vastly preferred by Search and Rescue organizations. The reason for this is that they can learn about what they need to do and who they need to send to you, because they can ask you. If you have a broken leg, they'll send in 10 people to get you out. Dehydrated? Two responders and water. Calls that come in from "dumb" communicators like PLBs are m…
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Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#438Earlier quoted context omitted.
GPS has always been available to get location information even offline. What you usually don't get at the user end is a map of where you are because maps apps don't cache or download automatically. I've installed OSMAnd+ and downloaded a lot of maps to avoid that and I wish Google Maps or Apple Maps made it easier to download a large swath like you can with OSM. (you can even download POI to still be able to do some…
> I wish Google Maps or Apple Maps made it easier to download a large swath like you can with OSM. Google Maps on iOS let’s you choose squares on the planet and download offline maps. Open the app, click your initial at the top right and you’ll see Offline Maps in the drop-down. Driving directions only though. But you can search for POIs and it will navigate you there. Or you can look at the maps/streets. I use it re…
With OSMAND you just dl provinces/states from a menu and it's done.
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#439Earlier quoted context omitted.
is 15$ a month really that expensive when it gets you the ability to communicate anywhere?
It's not expensive when it's compared to the alternative of not being able to call for help when there's no cell coverage. But it's expensive if it's compared to $0 for a feature that's already built into my phone. (though it remains to see how long Apple keeps it free since they only say it's "free for 2 years")
afaik the new iphone is SOS and location only, no text bridge
Re: Emergency SOS via satellite
#440Earlier quoted context omitted.
The person in that article was using SPOT, not a PLB. Actual PLBs ( not SPOT) have a backup strategy in the event the GPS signal is obscured by mountains. If the device can't get a reliable GPS fix, the satellites will resort to measuring doppler shift as they pass overhead to locate the transmitter. It's slower (takes several passes of the satellite, so we're talking hours) and less accurate, but it will get rescuer…
Thanks for the info. Although, in general, I assume a device that allows you to have two-way communications with SAR is preferable even if a PLB might have been better in this ultimately fatal situation.
Yes, two-way communication is a huge benefit since you can explain the problem and the responders can give advice in addition to ETAs.
However, a device like the Garmin inReach requires an active subscription for the SOS to work. If there's a glitch with your credit card and the service becomes inactive while you're on travels, it might not work.
Another difference is that an inReach SOS message goes to the Garmin-run https://www.iercc.com/en-US/about/ rescue coordination center who will the relay to rescue services.
Whereas a PLB or EPIRB communicate with the Cospas-Sarsat system and is handled directly by government rescue agencies (https://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/mission-control-center). While the Garmin service works great, I have more trust in the USMCC being always responsive than any private company.
So the best advise is to have both. I have an EPIRB (for boating) and a couple PLBs in addition the the Garmin inReach. I use the inReach for casual messaging but if I ever have a real emergency I'll activate the PLB and EPIRB first and only afterwards start trying to message via the Garmin.