Keep your old analog cell phone!

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Alaskansnowbirds

Alaskansnowbirds

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As some of you may or may not have heard, there was a tragic bus accident close to Mexican Hat Utah. A bus full of skiers returning to Phoenix from a weekend at Telluride. According to reports, survivors waited more than 40 minutes before someone drove by that could call 911 because no one on the bus had an analog cell phone to call for help. They were in an area where there wasn't any digital service.

If you have an old analog or dual mode cell phone, put it in you vehicle just for emergencies. If you have a 12vdc cord for it, you don't even have to keep it charged. Any cell phone that has ever had service will still call 911.

Some of the areas that us RVers go may only have analog cell service.
 
Good point Snow.. However it is my understanding that some day in the future (I don't know when) all cellular service, like all television service WILL be digital  I'm not sure how accurate this info is.  But till then having backup communactions.. GOOD IDEA
 
We just spent 3 months in Death Valley. The only cell service in that huge area is Analog. Mike's fancy Blackberry-type phone didn't work (digital only) but my old cheap Analog phone (trimode) did. I don't see some of these remote areas switching to digital towers any time soon. More likely would be that the towers would be shut down and there would be NO reception. In any event, the advice to keep an old analog phone handy is good advice.

Wendy
Pahrump NV
 
Good food for thought Don.  Must have really  frustrating to have the latest technology phone and couldn't call in an emergency situation till the old analog system came on scene.
 
Hmm, I'm not even sure WHAT version my cell phones are (about 5 years old).  Two Motorola models on the Nextel system - probably all digital, because when we have reception problems it's in the form of digital-sounding gurgling (for lack of a better description) rather than static or similar signal loss like an actual radio.  Plus the downside of Nextel is that they only work from their specific towers, no roaming.  This will change in the next few years as Sprint takes over the system, but for now it's what we've got.  Works fine locally, but in remote areas Nextel coverage is pretty spotty.  My previous phones are long gone unfortunately.
 
Nextel isn't really a cellular system but rather just a form of private radio.  Nextel phones won't work on any cellular system as a result.
 
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