Dumb phone save hikers life

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paulsiu
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Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by paulsiu »

So this hiker lived because he was using a dumbphone with days of battery life. I am lucky to get 1-2 days out of my smartphone.

I am puzzle though, how in the world did he get cell service in the woods?

http://www.phonearena.com/news/An-ancie ... er_id57744

Paul
chaz
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by chaz »

Near a cell tower?
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LordB
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by LordB »

He may not have had cell reception. The phone will send out a message "Hey anyone towers around" and the searchers can monitor for that (I'm not sure if a tower needs to do anything for this to happen, but if so the searchers would presumably have something capable of imitating a tower and getting the response).
pshonore
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by pshonore »

Sounds like the "imitation" cell tower the authorities were using to track criminals and was in the news last week. That case will be in the Supreme Court in the future since they did not have search warrants. Google "stingray fbi tracking" for more info
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Dutch
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by Dutch »

Maybe if he'd had a smart phone, he wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place :P
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batpot
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by batpot »

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ogd
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by ogd »

Current smartphones have immense batteries compared to the phones of old.

The reason they don't last nearly as long is the giant screen and the data connection / wifi. If you turn those off and pretend you have a dumb phone, you should have more battery life for emergencies, not less. In that exact situation, it would have required some foresight but more often your phone stays with you. Use GPS judiciously and your emergency call will be pinpointed to your exact location, as opposed to days of searching. And if you're paranoid you can bring along a hand-cranked charger and extend your battery life to "forever", or at least your lifespan in the circumstances.
Colorado14
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by Colorado14 »

Dutch wrote:Maybe if he'd had a smart phone, he wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place :P
Don't take this as a criticism, but my recommendation is to not to rely only on a phone while hiking. It creates a false sense of security for a lot of people. Phones are often dropped (as was the case in the situation referenced above), out of reach of cell towers, low on battery life, etc. I'm glad this worked out well for this hiker but that's not always the case. Common sense, having a compass, using a beacon, never hiking alone, etc. are all strategies that may be more useful than having a phone.

Hike safe this weekend!
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tetractys
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by tetractys »

Dutch wrote:Maybe if he'd had a smart phone, he wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place :P
Ha ha, yea, he would have walked of a cliff while texting instead! he ha. -- Tet
marc515
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by marc515 »

Dutch wrote:Maybe if he'd had a smart phone, he wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place :P
LMAO; it's nice to see a good sense of humor!
Khanmots
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by Khanmots »

ogd wrote:Current smartphones have immense batteries compared to the phones of old.

The reason they don't last nearly as long is the giant screen and the data connection / wifi. If you turn those off and pretend you have a dumb phone, you should have more battery life for emergencies, not less.
This. Also if you're not needing to make a call put it in airplane mode so it's not dumping tons of power into trying hard to get a signal when you're in the back country.

My mom's hiking the Appalachian trail and she'll get a week out of her smart phone easy. She just leaves it in airplane mode until she's wanting to make a call, then she'll see if it can find a cell tower. Then it's right back to airplane mode. Every week or so she'll stay at a hostel and get a shower, real bed, recharge the phone and camera, etc. No problems making the battery last.
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Re: Dumb phone save hikers life

Post by LadyGeek »

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