phones ididn't work after earthquake

As the referenced article states, texting is a good way to reach loved ones if you can't get through by calling.

Overloaded phone systems, which happen because too many people are trying to use the system at the same time, should still allow texting.

Of course, you aren't 100% guaranteed to get through with texting, but if (in the aftermath of this earthquake) you suffered through trying to call repeatedly yet still unsuccessfully, you should know that texting is a good thing to keep in mind.

I'll put in a plug for Ham radio. I"m part of a number of emergency response organizations in our area. We train for events like this -- and fires, and severe storms, and anything else.

Ham radio has the advantage that our equipment is self-contained. We can send messages across the country, or across town, when the phone system is dead, and when power is down.

A couple of years ago someone cut a bunch of fiber optic cables, cutting off phone service to most of the south end of Santa Clara County. Hams provided emergency communications -- in hospitals, county offices, fire stations, and more.

Get to know the folks in your area with the funny antennas on their roofs... Particularly if they're involved in emergency response.

And if you've ever been interested, ham radio licenses have NOT required Morse code for years. The basic Technician class license is a multiple-choice test that anyone with patience can pass with a bit of study. This is a test that twelve year-olds pass on a regular basis. A lot of the questions are common sense (when should you stick your radio antenna in your ear? Never! When can you play music or curse over your radio? Never!)

Lots of communities have emergency preparedness organizations -- check with your local fire department to see if your area has one. A lot of communities out here on the Left Coast provide free, comprehensive training to citizen volunteers, specifically to build up a cadre of trained responders who can help out when the ! hits the fan.

Oh, oh a lot of our drills, we use GPS, such as for locating and checking key infrastructure.

The cell phone network is not, and can never be an emergency communications network. To make a profit, the cell phone companies have to balance capacity with demand - overbuilding would be costly. An emergency situation is almost guaranteed to produce system overload.

But an emergency communications network has to work all the time. Broadcast and point to point radio is the answer, broadcast to get news out to the masses, and radio services such as K6RTM described above for point to point communications.

Ex-WA9PND

Suggesting we revert to the Internet after an emergency presupposes that the emergency doesn't knock out power - and even then that it hasn't impacted on power at key switch points. The general availability of the Internet is not adequate to guarantee connectivity even when there are no emergencies. There is just too much 'stuff' that comprises the Internet to depend on it for mission-critical communications.

Because the wired telephone network is battery/generator backed up and the Internet is a pretty haphazard collection of questionable hardware and the cell network is designed for standard capacity, your best bet for communications is wired telephony - assuming the lines haven't come down, overload or not.

One major risk to cell networks is that the towers might twist or fall and altogether too much of cell networks is cobbled together with directional microwave links. And while the author's comment about responders having coded phones is true, that feature is only available in very limited areas.

ANY time there is a civil emergency the cellular network crashes - and the wired network doesn't do that, though it can be delayed in returning dial tone. A recent emergency in Montreal took out the police officer's cell pones and also their mobile computer services - it is folly to mix Mission-Critical communications on a public network.

As to Ham radio - I've been licensed for 37 years as an advanced amateur, and originally a member of what used to be a very select group of Amateurs with 'digital amateur certificates', now lumped in the Canadian 'Advanced Amateur' status, since there were all of 40 of us in the world. And I dread the day that hams can provide the only means of communications (hopefully it will happen during a period of low sunspot activity) - while the service may not require Morse Code any more, the quality of the technical knowledge of the licensees in general has never been all that great - the hobby has largely reverted to comprising a group of appliance operators these days and I personally liken it to being a glorified CB service.

Yes, there are trained and competent message managers, but the vast majority appear to me to be in it for the ability to have a quiet FM transceiver in their vehicles.

I practice what I preach and have cellular, POTS, Internet and ham radio connectivity available to me at home . . . just in case.

Just rush hour or the end of an event is enough to produce system overload. And does, regularly.

Just curious, are you set up for emergency situations, have a generator, and or solar power?

licensed for 46 years.

I second that! Hams were a lifesaver after Hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas.

Give me back my old AT&T land line.

Both cell and landlines overloaded.

Phones always go out or are overloaded during an emergency, wired or wireless.

The event showed how poorly people in most of the country are unprepared for the earthquake threat they face. It isn't just the west coast.

No one reporting on GPS or sat phones going out though.

Propane powered 75 kw generator - no solar. 24 hours of autonomy at full load (which we almost never hit unless it is deep winter and a cold snap. I wanted to supplement with natural gas, but there's no service on my street. I happen to be on a power line that feeds a hospital, so when the brown stuff hits the big rotating blades we get our power back first.