Preparedness for when

mardatha

Was just reading on Sky News that York has, or had, no broadband no mobile phone coverage and no landlines. Interesting.

pineapple

greenbee wrote: »

... or have mobile phone reception out in the sticks

There seems to be an assumption these days that everyone is contactable via a mobile 24/7. I have to get a fair amount of stuff online and many suppliers expect you to have a mobile contact no. I hesitate to give it out as as there is a poor signal here anyway and I've actually had delivery drivers get shirty with me as in 'I've been ringing you for an hour'. They find it hard to believe that I can't get a signal in the house when they can get one half a mile up the road. Even though I might have given the landline number as well, companies/organisations persist in treating the mobile as the default contact.

moneyistooshorttomention

Pineapple - I'm now living in an area where mobiles can be dicey. There is a website somewhere (which I cant recall the name of) that gives comparison figures of mobile coverage by different providers.

It had never occurred to me that whether one got mobile coverage or no could be largely dependant on which provider one has:o. Makes logical sense I guess. So I checked that website out and duly found that my provider has good coverage for my immediate area here, but there are other providers that don't.

I've had the frustrating experience of riding along on a bus from A to B here trying to make a call and just having to wait until the bus had got further along the road and try again.

From what I can remember from that site - I think general advice is to have 2 mobile phones and each of those phones to be with a different provider. That way it should, hopefully, be the case that at least one of them is working in any given location. For most of us that would mean finances dictating that the second phone was a very basic cheapie phone then (ie that was just used for phonecalls/texts only).

Personally - I only have that one phone and its a dead cheapie basic one (not a smartphone) but I manage overall. I think its still possible to get such a cheap one? I just asked for the cheapest/most basic they had in the place and it only cost me £10 (+ £30 of calls included) and I keep it topped-up with "pay as you go". So - total cost of that phone was £40 (but, as £30 of that was included calls then I don't count that iyswim).

PS; I never give my mobile phone number to deliverers anyway. They only ever get told my landline number (ie so they have no choice but to ring that one) and they have all rung that one okay with no problem.

GreyQueen

I live in a city centre and am about 300 yards from a BT exchange. But mobile reception with some providers is iffy and a regular source of inter-neighbour disputes is some people with iffy signals having to conduct mobile phone conversations whilst leaning out of the windows of their flats. T- mobile is the worst, I was always OK as a Vodaphone customer and there has never been any problem with '3'.

So, even in an urban area with no topography getting in the way, there can be reception issues.

One of my pals lives in a village about 8 miles out of the city and is in a dead zone for mobiles. Even text messages can go awol for 40 mins between sending and receiving. It means he has a succession of state-of-the-art mobiles which are about as much use at home as two yoghurt pots connected with a piece of string.

Comms being down is going to be a feature of any crisis and it will be very disturbing for those used to being in constant contact with their gang.

thriftwizard

Seconding all this, for anyone who doesn't realise that mobiles are NOT the be-all-and-end-all of modern communications; we are just a hundred yards or so outside the boundary of a city, and barely have any signal at all most of the time. There are places in the hinterlands of the county where GPS can't find you, either. If you live somewhere well-served, it's scarcely conceivable, but some of us simply cannot be accessed all the time by anyone!

Have to admit that that doesn't really bother me very much, either...

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Comms being down is going to be a feature of any crisis and it will be very disturbing for those used to being in constant contact with their gang.

It would have very little impact on me personally. Though since I do not use my iPhone primarily for contact it could be weeks before I notice.

I went for a drink with a long standing friend to a pub to have a drink and christmas chat, and saw a family of four all with their faces trained on their screens. My phone stayed in my pocket but it is incredible how dependant many are on their phones one way or another.

nuatha

thriftwizard wrote: »

we are just a hundred yards or so outside the boundary of a city, and barely have any signal at all most of the time. There are places in the hinterlands of the county where GPS can't find you, either. If you live somewhere well-served, it's scarcely conceivable, but some of us simply cannot be accessed all the time by anyone!

Have to admit that that doesn't really bother me very much, either...

Its not just outside cities, there are substantial blackspots inside major cities. A few years back getting a 3G signal in the City of London was difficult (my 2G phone worked fine) due to the sheer number of phones trying to negotiate a signal. Then there are actual blackspots where there isn't a signal to find and as I found out recently coverage maps tell lies. (A supposed recent improvement of coverage provided zero signal in an area where the providers map showed excellent signal) Not all phones are equal either, I've found zero signal on one phone can become a working signal at the same point (on the same SIM) by changing phones.

Frugalsod

thriftwizard wrote: »

Seconding all this, for anyone who doesn't realise that mobiles are NOT the be-all-and-end-all of modern communications; we are just a hundred yards or so outside the boundary of a city, and barely have any signal at all most of the time. There are places in the hinterlands of the county where GPS can't find you, either. If you live somewhere well-served, it's scarcely conceivable, but some of us simply cannot be accessed all the time by anyone!

Have to admit that that doesn't really bother me very much, either...

A map can be more reliable than a GPS system as long as you know how to read it, which many do not any longer. In a serious SHTF situation you will see who has become excessively dependant on technology to cope.

grandma247

Bingley started a flood support group within a short time of the floods starting. They seem to be doing very well.

ALIBOBSY

Locally to us there are quite a few churches and the like who have opened their doors to help people flooded out and local facebook pages and local twitter feeds are full of offers of places for people to stay and help to those flooded out. Just been watching the chinnocks flying over to the flooded areas downstream, believe they are helping build up sandbags/defences against further flooding.

Definately a feeling of communities pulling together and helping each other, but locally have always felt that around here.

On a side note our hibernating hedge hog decided to get up last night after a week of sleep, spotted it pottering around in the garden so fed it some left over turkey and watched it later on potter off back in to the greenhouse to sleep lol. Hopefully its moved in .But clearly some issues with temp effecting its hibernation.

Ali x