Communicating Options During A Grid Blackout

Since everyone was a witness to an entire country being taken off the grid, it makes us all wonder what the different choices that we have for communication devices. The government of Egypt was able to stop almost completely all of the internet and cell use within the country. Putting a whole country in blackout like that is a pretty impressive feat. There were some though that still managed to communicate through different devices.

Anyone with a satellite phone or with satellite internet service in Egypt was still operational. Mainly because they go through different channels than the cell service and cable service. A country must actually own the satellite or have an agreement with the huge businesses that owns the satellite in order to have it stop sending signals.

Satellite phone are not the only way to communicate. Some options are less than high tech. When all else fails, firing up the ole dependable Ham radio for an ageless means of communication. These shortwave radio dependables have a very impressive service record, going all the way back to the second world war. They ran off battery power and were really hard to seek out an destroy. Many believe that the licenses requirement in the US is just to keep track of where they are, even tho they aren't used much anymore.

CB radio's generally take people back to the 70's, but they were an effective way to communicate locally. Now they are part of pop culture and are relatively inexpensive and still very easy to use. The draw back to this communication icon is the short distance relaying. However it was still better than recording a message onto cassette and passing along the tapes to their intended destination as was the case during the 1979 Iranian revolution.

As fast, sometimes friendly and convenient as the internet is, it is great to know that our computers are capable of so much more in the way of communication options without needing the internet. In case you are unaware of how networks such as the Ad-Hoc work, you can easily research this set-up and what all you can enjoy. It links wireless routers, PC's, laptops and cell phones into a network when set-up properly. Some of these networks are huge and silently work in our midst.