Satellite Phones For Consumers Taking Off

New parents Jerry Lowenstein and his wife aren't taking chances with losing phone service after a hurricane or storm-related outage. In addition to having a home phone and two cell phones, the couple now have a smart satellite phone.

The Pompano Beach couple know having the right tools when the worst happens is half the battle to stay safe in a storm. And satellite phones may soon give many other Floridians another tool for their storm-preparedness kits.
Like many Florida families, the Lowenstein's were looking for ways to strengthen their hurricane preparedness this year – and the newer, increasingly affordable phones gave them an option at a price similar to a new backup generator.

"During Hurricane Wilma, cell phone towers went down, there were heavy volumes of calls, so it was hard to use the cell phone after," said Lowenstein, whose home phone line was out for about three weeks. "For hurricane season we keep a closet in our garage filled with canned food, extra propane gas, a generator and we have our satellite phone charged."

The once-bulky devices could cost as much as a couple thousand dollars each in years past, but new lines of cheaper consumer satellite phones are now available and more are coming. Starting as low as $650, they now come with features found with the smartest cell phones — texting, web browsing and e-mail.

The biggest selling point for satellite phones is that they excel when other phones fail. Bad storms can knock down cell phone towers, cutting cellular service, and landline equipment, disrupting home phone service. Satellite service, on the other hand, connects directly to satellites in space, too far away to be bothered by weather. Keep in mind, you must use them outdoors for reception.

Lowenstein says he recommends satellite phones to friends and neighbors. "When all else fails, we still have emergency communication capability with a satellite phone," he said. And he's hardly the only Floridian hedging his bets with sat phones. The same devices are relied upon by first responders and media during emergencies, including the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.

"Put it this way, every shipment we get in the store sells out, and we have 500 pre-orders," said Brian Fry, marketing manager for GMPCS Personal Communications, a leading reseller and distributor of satellite products and services. Located in Pompano Beach, GMPCS rents and sells satellite phones and provides satellite phone service.

Florida Power & Light, CNN, FOX and the Sun Sentinel are customers, Fry said, as well as the Broward, Palm Beach and Orange county sheriff's departments and other emergency institutions across the state.

 

The full article can be read at the sun sentinel.