The Truth about Mobile Devices
Prisoners, of our own Devices.
The Eagles had it right with their song "Hotel California" when they said, "We are all just prisoners here of our own device". Statistics show that about 68 percent of adults have only a cell phone. They don't have a tablet or a desktop computer. This is how they're getting all their information, their sports, their news, and their entertainment. Worldwide more people now own a cell phone than a toothbrush. 47 percent of smartphone users say they couldn't live without their devices. 35 percent of those users check their phones more than 50 times a day.
The trouble with cell phones is that they are part of a colossal central point of failure system. Trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure of data communications, power, and radio equipment. If any piece of that system breaks, your cell phone becomes worthless. We are becoming more and more vulnerable to the things that take the cell phone systems out, and those same things can even affect the old-style landline phones.
It used to be that you had a pair of copper wires coming all the way from the central office out to your phone. That's no longer the case. Communications companies have been busy ripping out all their copper wire and putting in fiber optic cable. That fiber optic cable goes to within maybe a few miles of your home before it transitions into copper, and those fiber nodes all have to have electrical power. When the power goes off those nodes go down and you don't have any landline telephone service after that.
Now let's talk about cell towers, and what the regulations are for backup power. The fact is that there are no regulations in place to compel cell phone providers to have any amount of backup power, at least not at the federal level. Most of them do have some backup power but 30 minutes is most likely all there is. It used to be a lot longer than that, but cell companies keep adding more and more features like 2g 3g 4g 5g, and they also keep adding customers but they're not upgrading the backup power.
After every major disaster, there is a movement either from the FCC or from Congress to try and compel cell phone providers to upgrade backup power to make their tower sites more resilient. But the telecom industry spends a whopping 320 thousand dollars per day on average for lobbying efforts to ensure that no laws are passed that are going to impair their business model. So every time that there's been any kind of an effort to get them to 'tow the line' or be more responsive or be more resilient, they've successfully fought back those efforts at every turn.
Even if phones are still working, there is a danger. We're all familiar with the Wireless Emergency Alert system where an alert can be sent out to all of the cell phones in a geographic area (there was a nationwide test of that system recently). When the 2018 "Camp Fire" destroyed the town of Paradise, California, that system was never activated. Then there's the EAS, the Emergency Alert System. This is the system that goes out over TV and radio that gives you that loud buzz and then an automated message to tell you that there's something you need to be aware of. That system was also never activated. The local radio station was never told to issue an evacuation order or warning for the town of Paradise because nobody picked up the phone and called them. 85 people died in that fire.
But this might be the most important message I have for you. Even as we prepare, most of us have a lingering feeling that when a catastrophe strikes, someone will be there to help. If we call 9-1-1, surely someone will come. But this is the blunt truth... sometimes no one is coming. I'm not telling you this to scare you. I'm telling you this to help you prepare.
Someday we're going to have an incident, and you will not get a fire truck, police, or ambulance at your house to help you. You're going to have to help yourself and you need to be prepared for it. First responders are going to try to help you, but they're going to run out of manpower fast, and it could be a long time for extra manpower to come in from unaffected areas. You need to understand and prepare your family for the fact that we are going to be impacted by a terrible event and that you are going to have to take care of yourself. Calling 9-1-1 is an option, but there's a good chance that nobody's going to show up to help you, just because of the magnitude of the incident.
So, we need to take responsibility for ensuring the safety of our families, our friends, and our community especially during a disaster. As citizens, friends, and neighbors we must support each another until outside help arrives. We need to know about the skills, supplies, and equipment that we all have. We need to be able to communicate that information with each other quickly and reliably. We have to prepare for disasters, and hope they never happen.
So what is the point of all this? The point is that in any disaster, communication is the key. How else would you know what to do, where to go, or how dangerous the situation really is? How else would you be able to call for help, or connect with family members, friends or neighbors? The point is that in our modern world, the most advanced communication systems can also be the most fragile. The lesson to learn is that we have to be more self-reliant and prepare to communicate like it's 1950. New technologies are wonderful but we must have alternatives. And radio is the only reliable option. Why? Because it does not rely on any infrastructure. That is the beauty of the Nauvoo Emergency Communications Network. Besides a link to 9-1-1, it is also a network of neighbors connected by inexpensive walkie-talkies so we can communicate needs and volunteer aid to each other until first responders can arrive.
Condensed from a 2021 presentation by Alan Thompson
Commercial satellite internet field technician
for Bank of America, the FAA, and T-Mobile