At 26 Jun 2009 01:58:42 +0000 Larry wrote:
> "Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AnoOspam
> > Seems like a cool service, but it's a backpacking trip- they're not
> > visiting Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom! Whatever happened to the days
> > when an "emergency camping kit" was a bottle of water purification
> > tablets, a box of waterproof matches, and a good old-fashioned flare
> > gun ?
>
> The flare gun may be one way to turn even more of California into ashes.
> Real smart, Todd, real smart.
>
> ONE broken ankle, one pulled tendon, one trip over the side of a cliff
> somewhere there's no stupid sellphone signal in the boondocks of the
> California mountains and that $99/year looks like a blessing.


"The boondocks of the California Mountains?" There are a few places in
California whee you aren't within an hour or two's walk of cell service,
but not that many!


> I can't believe you value human life so little as to want, like some
> goddamned mullah in Iran, to go back into the stone age of a signal fire
> when it's just so cheap to provide REAL, dependable emergency
> communications to such a device as Spot.

Oh, I forgot- once a product get the "Bag Phone Larry Seal Of Approval (tm)
" like Skype, Knology Cable, Waffle House Raisin Toast, Nokia N800 web
tablets, Cricket PCS, and now, apparently "Spot", any one who doesn't use
it is a fool.

I said it looked like a neat service. Personally, I'd like to have seen
some form of acknowledgement on it so the user at least got a "beep" or a
blinking light or something as feedback to let them know the message was
received.


> > Today, it seems amazing that as a race our ancestors managed to crawl
> > out of the oceans onto the shore without a GPS in one flipper and a
> > cellphone in the other!
> >
> >
>
> You need to move to Afghanistan or Somalia. They live like you think we
> all should....

Geez, Lar, look at the smilies "". I was more lamenting times gone by
than suggesting being a luddite!

So, apparently I'm an a--hole for not embracing a very limited, but
probably effective service. I could ask why should you cheapout with a
"Spot" when you could rent a satellite phone for $50/week and actually be
able to call for help AND describe the nature of the problem?

Or, crazy idea, check the cell carrier coverage map to see if they'll
actually be out of coverage range before resorting to anything besides the
cell phone.

My wife is taking my 7 year-old on a Mother-Daughter Girl Scout camping
trip this weekend up in Heck-n-gone, Colorado, somewhere, in one of those
areas that don't have real addresses- just descriptions like "at the gravel
road just past the first creek you see after mile marker 372."

I've already checked the maps, and both her T-Mo iPhone and Sprint
Blackberry phone will be SOL in that part of Colorado. Before running to
REI or Cabela's to buy a Spot, or calling in a favor with a friend at
Lockheed Martin to get NASA to point the Hubble at my family this weekend,
I simply checked the rest of the cellular websites, found Verizon has
spotty coverage in that area, and will send my prepaid PagePlus (Verizon
reseller) phone with her. It's a seven year old Windows Mobile phone with
9.6k internet connectivity. A weekend with that museum piece and she'll
appreciate her iPhone even more when she gets back!