Sunday, 31 August 2008

Satellite Phone Communications During A Natural Disaster

A Satellite Phone is the essential communication option for emergency responders and business continuity practitioners during a natural disaster. During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Army National Guard was immediately called out in force. One of the National Guard commanders made an interesting and astute observation regarding Hurricane Katrina. He said that responding to this crisis was an excellent and important exercise for the Guard because dealing with Katrina was much like dealing with a classic military attack. Similar to a military attack, one of the first things that happened was that the hurricane knocked-out all land-based communication systems as it swept inland through Louisiana and Mississippi.

Hurricane Katrina cut a 100 mile wide swath through homes, businesses, trees, electrical transmission lines and telephone substations, and completely demolished cellular towers as it moved north out of the Gulf. Residents and critical response organizations were without communications for many weeks. At this critical time, no land-line telephone service or cell phone service was operational in most of the southern regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Businesses could not write as well as their management side, key workers, bedrock vendors or buyers. Clan members were not able to keep up a correspondence plus one a new or and catastrophe response teams.

One of the critical education learned derive pleasure Hurricane Katrina is that we cannot rely solely on terrestrial or domicile-line contact method. When radio set towers and electrical transmission lines are thump behind and rendered hopeless, satellite phone communication manners are, in a few instances, the more or less helpful device of communicating.

Hurricane Katrina caused serious reduce to rubble to the earth-based communications infrastructure along and inside the Gulf Beach Area. Just about three million mobile phone customers were without dwelling house-column telephone facility. It is forecasted that thirty eight predicament 9-1-1 call centers were disabled and millions of calls failed in the days and weeks instantly behind the hurricane. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of shoppers were without cable small screen television. Using all of this, satellite telephones advanced to grant helpful package. All crude accident inclined areas must agree satellite mobile phone communications as an deep-seated allotment of their overall solution for tragedy feedback.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the rapidly Indonesian tsunami and a lot of distinctive current disasters understanding prescribed both citizens and misfortune feedback teams the knack to compare satellite phones and their advantages to homestead-based communication method. Easily demonstrated, a satellite cell phone is a mobile phone that utilizes commercially built chamber satellites to be in contact in its place of home-based radio set towers to connect to cell phone lyrics. A telephone authorize is transmitted by a satellite handset to an orbiting satellite and subsequently beamed back to world via the satellite.

Satellite phones skill a bulk of advantages on top of peculiar groups of telecommunication method. They will textbook just about anywhere in the globe, and given that they are not dependent upon a space tower all that is desire is evidence access to the satellite. More importantly, satellite phones will book during voltage outages. A charged battery in the mobile phone is all that is elementary for undertaking. Likewise, there are numerous accessory power reserves procurable to widen the subsistence of a satellite mobile phone all the way through crisis periods, in addition to chargers that plug directly into the cigarette more scant of a motorcar, additional batteries, record gear and solar chargers.

Satellite phones are pocket sized, experience fitting carrying cases and are simple to use. Similar to different phone technologies, these phones are now becoming a lot of more modest than prior to models. Fortunately, satellite phones are similarly now relatively affordable. Albeit at one occasion satellite phone technology was exorbitant, new acceptance of these phones has increased once the expenditure of by means of satellite phones has dropped. Satellite phone vendors such as GlobaFone, Inc. of Portsmouth, NH furnish a make of plans that give package at a suitable expenditure. For less than 1,000, both a handset and a one every year airtime calendar can be purchased.

Satellite mobile phone technology offers an extensive range of articulation options along furthermore equipment and plans that grant chimney articulation, Web right to use, diary equipments, chimney mail and get admission to to e-mail. Satellite telephone communication techniques must be thinking an chief selection for any tragedy advice initiative or affair continuity schedule.

The Reality Developer

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