Mobile Phone coverage for emergencies
Submitted: Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 08:24
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Member - Mike DID
This website makes it clear that even "experts" can be confused about Mobile Phone coverage. www.snopes.com/science/mobile.asp
"More succinctly, when there's not enough signal with which to make a call to 999, there will not be enough to make one to 112. "
- this could mislead people into thinking that if they see "No signal" on their phone that there is no point in trying to make a call in an emergency.
If you dial 112 then your phone will contact to the 000 operator in Australia (there are only two centres) using ANY network that your phone can access - if you have a Telstra phone and only Optus has signal it will use that.
If you have no SIM card in your phone, or your phone has run out of credit you can still contact 000 by dialling 112.
I'm not sure if dialling 000 on a Mobile in Australia gives the same "any network operator" access as 112 does.
Reply By: Member - Ian S (NT) - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 09:43
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 09:43
Hi All,
Do remember though there is no "mobile"cover for most of the remote areas of central Australia like the Simpson and only a Satphone will work there. There is good CDMA cover on most of the bitumen roads around the country but as soon as it becomes dirt the cover generally disappears. A good 500 km radius from the
Simpson Desert is without cover.
Support
Birdsville with all its traffic each year to get coverage. Probably too late now for CDMA but perhaps G3. The nearest cover to Mt Dare is
Coober Pedy in the South and
Erldunda on the Stuart Highway to the north.
Cheers
Ian @ Mt Dare
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 11:00
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 11:00
Ian
I agree - CDMA is the only network to consider if you are travelling outback.
However there is only one CDMA network these days, so you won't get any increase in coverage by dialling 112 compared with normal calling.
But if you have an emergency and the signal is too weak to make a phone call, then send an SMS - it will get through much more easily.
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Follow Up By: Brian B (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:01
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:01
Mike,
I just want to clarify for people that your last comment about in an emergency and having too weak a signal to make a phone call to send an SMS as it is not a foolproof solution.
SMS can take some time to get through and there are huge numbers of SMS that in fact do not reach their destination. Of more concern is the fact that the sender has no confirmation that the message was ever received so it is a big one to be fully reliant on.
Sure in an emergency give it a go but don't hang your hat on it as it is not foolproof.
While looking at levels of dispatch redundancy for Queensland
Ambulance Service we totally rejected the use of SMS due to its unreliable nature.
Just wanteed to clear that one up.
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:10
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:10
That's right, not even the Telco's will sell SMS as a callout system for emergency
services, because there is no guarantee of delivery and certainly no consistency in the time of delivery. Although the paging systems used by the emergency
services have similar problems ! For one brigade in poor signal area we always have to send two callout pages.
But if you're in the middle of nowhere and nothing else is working to get help, it sure is worth remembering that SMS will work if signal strength isn't quite strong enough for a phone call, especially if you walk to a hilltop and hold the phone as high as possible - and hope you get the "message sent" beep.
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Follow Up By: Member - Andy Q (VIC) - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 21:24
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 21:24
Enough!, Enough already, all of you buy a dual mode Satellite Phone and be done with it.....................please
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 21:33
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 21:33
Are you offering a subsidy more generous than the government subsidy ? :-)
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Reply By: Eric Experience. - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 10:31
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 10:31
Mike.
The gsm netwook has a
boundary set by the netwoork, it works by measuring the time delay for the signal, its purpose is to allow the same frequencys to be used on every second sell. the emergency no may overide this artificual
boundary. Eric
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 10:48
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 10:48
No, all that is mandated is that on 112 or without a SIM card it will work on ANY network, not limited to the one you've paid for.
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Follow Up By: joc45 - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 13:37
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 13:37
That's right. An indication of "no signal" could mean either that:
- your service provider is not in the area (but there could be another provider giving a useable signal) or
- that there is really no signal.
So what they're saying is "give it a try even tho you see no signal". By calling 112, it will connect if there is a signal from any service provider.
In the middle of the Simpson, I wouldn't be relying too much on that pilosophy tho.
As with Mike, I don't think that the cell is extended beyond the 32km
boundary when you use 112.
And with CDMA, if you can see a weak signal but have trouble making speech contact, then SMS will usually get thru. But I doubt if '112' can receive SMS - you'd have to try a different (usually mobile) number to relay the message. Someone else may be able to confirm this.
Gerry
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 18:07
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 18:07
Some country cells use double time slots thus halving the number of calls the cell can carry but doubling the distance. Stratford in Vic is one such - I have hit the Stratford cell from 60km line of sight. I am not aware of any published lists of such cells?
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 19:02
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 19:02
Mike - which carrier is that with in Stratford ?
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Follow Up By: joc45 - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:25
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:25
Mike,
Telstra did introduce some "cell extenders" in country areas back in the late 90's, but I think that with the introduction of CDMA, they didn't bother changing any more GSM cells. The 32km limit is doubled to 64km, but it also meant a cell plan reorg, and significantly limited the number of channels available to the user. This was not a great issue in country areas where congestion was not great.
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:12
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:12
Mike - Telstra GSM
Joc45 - There are a number of
places where I can get that Startford cell at
well over 33km on GSM but my CDMA gets nothing! :)
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:25
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 22:25
Mike
Between Stratford and Meerlieu the Telstra GSM coverage is actually shown as better than CDMA !
Do you know where the actual Stratford GSM basestation - it could be 20km from Stratford. The coverage pattern makes it unclear where the cell is located.
Just because it identifies as Stratford doesn't mean it is near the town. There is good signal to the North East of Stratford but no towns, so they may have named a cell between Stratford and Bairnsdale as Stratford also.
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 11:48
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 11:48
>Do you know where the actual Stratford GSM basestation is
Good point. No, I don't but as I can receive it at more than 33km to the east, west
and north east of Stratford I suspect it's not too far from the town. I'm heading over that way tomorrow so I'll try and find it.
I'm not surprised about the GSM v CDMA coverage in that area - CDMA around there is certainy nothing to get excited about.
Mike Harding
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Reply By: Voxson (Adelaide) - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 14:26
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 14:26
These are some of the
places we had CDMA coverage.......
(Tip of
Cape York,
Coen and
Coen River,
Weipa, Siesa)...
Most areas throughout The Cape....
I thought that was amazing...
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 15:29
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 15:29
"Most areas throughout The Cape.... "
I really hope that people planning a trip to the
Cape don't use this info to decide that they don't need to take an EPIRB, Satphone or HF so that can get emergency assistance quickly.
Sure, there's coverage around
Coen and around
Laura, but for 200km in between there's no coverage at all. Then another 200km gap with no coverage to
Bamaga.
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 19:11
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 19:11
with the amount of mexicans on the road to
the tip at this time of year, i would be surprised if you would have to wait long at all for help ;-)
Andrew
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Follow Up By: Voxson (Adelaide) - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:52
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:52
Yes,, let me adjust my phrase....
SOME areas around The Cape....
And i thought your reaction was a little over the top Mike...
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:57
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 at 20:57
"over the top" - can you explain which part ?
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Follow Up By: Voxson (Adelaide) - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 11:29
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 11:29
I am sure you meant
well,,,, lets just leave it at that...
More important things to worry about than each and everyones response to a posing arguement on a website...
Have a nice day...
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Follow Up By: Member - Mike DID - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 13:02
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 13:02
Yes, there are limitations in the English language.
It would have been clearer if I'd started with "This statement could be interpreted several ways . . . ". I do try to re-read my posts before hitting the send button :-)
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Follow Up By: Richard & Leonie - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 17:45
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 17:45
Do not worry Voxson. I find people say things in posts they would not say to you face to face. Its like the guy that gives the one finger salute when he has the anonymity afforded by his car around him. I like your $20 wise saying.
Richard
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Follow Up By: Voxson (Adelaide) - Monday, Jul 31, 2006 at 23:00
Monday, Jul 31, 2006 at 23:00
:o)
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Reply By: 98Jack - Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 22:25
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 at 22:25
My eldest Niece's Husband was
rock climbing in the blue Mountains last year with a couple of mates. Ropes got jambed and they founds themselves stranded on a small ledge with nowhere to go.
Mobile phone only just had enough signal (and
battery power) to send two SMS's for assistance. Rescue teams hand chopper arrived a short time later.
And yes, he's still
rock climbing
98Jack
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