Get a cell phone booster
Posted on 12/16/2007 12:35:44 PM PST by Mr_Moonlight
Nearly a year after a Brooklyn man froze to death on the Adirondack Northway because he couldn't get cellphone service, the Spitzer administration has yet to fix the life-threatening problem.
Temperatures were well below zero when 63-year-old Alfred Langner's car went off the road in a treacherous 47-mile cell-phone “dead zone" last January. Unable to call for help, he succumbed to hypothermia 13 hours later, while his injured wife waited some 20 hours more before a passing state trooper noticed the vehicle.
But with the mercury dropping again, the dead zone remains - and the Spitzer team's foot-dragging is largely to blame.
True, some progress has been made. Spitzer's folks claim credit for brokering an agreement with Verizon to cover the zone with 11 cell towers.
But the towers won't be up until the middle or end of next year - far too late to do any good this winter. Indeed, the first tower only won final approval on Friday.
Such towers, see, require thorough environmental oversight from the Adirondack Park Agency - basically to ensure they don't spoil the view. (Greenie-griping is a chief reason why service is so spotty up there in the first place.)
Meanwhile, a temporary fix that would provide partial coverage for the coming months has been creeping forward at turtle speed - despite a million-dollar state earmark secured for the project in April.
The holdup apparently has been an unholy cycle of bureaucratic inertia and corporate hesitation - the kind that effective executive leadership could break.
But Gov. Spitzer's office has essentially telegraphed its ambivalence about the project. After all, it argues, lots of Upstate highways have limited cell service. So what's the big deal if folks are left stranded and incommunicado on this one stretch?
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Hell....I was visiting my folks on Long Island about a month ago, and noticed that my cell coverage with AT&T was abysmal...and my internet connection was ‘edge’ vs. the 3G I get here in semi-rural MO.
My parents told me that coverage is a problem as the cell companies are being denied building new towers out of concern for the ‘environment’.
Crazy!
weak
I lived 43 miles from the nearest McDonalds in the north country before there was any device called a “cell phone”. The locals told me what to carry in a vehicle in case there was an accident in the winter. Flares. Coffee can. Matches. Lighters. Blankets. Water. Beans and a can opener. They said to use a flare to burn the spare tire, if need be.
The idea that because a technology exists, people will stop being reckless is just not realistic. People are going to die no matter how much you to try to prevent it.
wow. wonder what they did with all the bodies of those who died before there were cellphones?
It's not the lack of cell phone towers that kills. It's the lack of preparedness.
Hard to complain, really
I'll take the mountains anytime
How about the people who don’t have cell phones?
You’re getting into the liberal “If it saves one life” mind set.
Sometimes life just sucks for the unlucky.
[“dead zone”]
Two words that describes the entire state, I know because I escaped from there in ‘76.
Tell me more!
What should we all have in our cars for survival in nasty winter conditions?
I ask, because I have to drive my disabled husband for medical treatment in horrible western NY (southern tier lake-effect) winter driving conditions.
I want a good survival kit in our car, one that a couple of elderly folks could use, and the stronger sex with Parkinson’s.
Years ago there were land line phones every quarter mile. The ride is beautiful but effin scary in winter weather.
why didnt wave down a passing motorist?
You can say the same thing about large stretches of I-80 in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska. Never mind US-50 across NV, UT, CO, etc.
The difference is that New Yorkers suffer from a particular band of narcissism that makes them think they’re uniquely special and indispensable in the course of human history.
News flash: they’re not. If they do something stupid, they should suffer the consequences, ie, die.
And, as someone who used to drive the Northway, here’s another observation: folks from downstate New York should take some driving lessons.
When I’m out and about in Nevada in the winter (where the majority of the center of Nevada has no cell coverage and will never have any cell coverage), I always make sure I have:
1. A sleeping bag good to -10F. In the area you’re talking about, I’d make sure the bag is good to -20F. Bring along some garbage bags or a light tarp in the event you have to be out of the car. If you keep a good sleeping bag dry, and you have a way to keep the wind off you, you can stay surprisingly warm even in some pretty cold conditions.
2. Weatherproof matches, or a lighter, some road flares, perhaps some sort of fire starting aid as well. Road flares can light a lot of stuff pretty well.
3. A hat and scarf, wool if you’re not allergic. 80% of your heat loss is from your head and neck. Keep those warm and you’re halfway there.
4. Extra socks - wool ones, if you’re not allergic. When your feet get wet, you’d be surprised at how quickly you start feeling miserable.
5. A pot, or steel cup, in which to melt snow for water. DO NOT melt snow in your mouth to obtain water. There’s few ways you can lose heat faster than melting snow in your mouth, or eating snow.
6. The usual tools. With the Leatherman multi-tools available these days, there’s no excuse to not simply buy one at Costco (or wherever) and just chuck it into the glove box.
Who ever said that this child panderer could provide "effective executive leadership". I could see Spitzer was a train wreck from his AG days.
Spitzer makes me long for the good old days of George Pataki.
Bulky warm hat, scarf, long coat, mittens, overpants, felt-pack boots, high energy solid (as in can’t freeze) snack foods (chocolate, nuts, dried bananas, meat jerky), a winter-weight sleeping bag is best but some heavy woolen blankets can do. Best if everything has a windproof and water-resistant (not necessarily waterproof) outer layer.
The hardest thing to carry is liquids because left in storage in the vehicle they will freeze. Take a thermos of a warm drink or soup with at the beginning of every trip. Of course, alcohol won’t freeze but if you drink it in the cold you will.
I used to live in Alaska, now I live in the mountains of Idaho. Same difference except the winter here is 1/2 as long and not as dark and that’s OK with me!
Just goes to show you - the gubbmint is NOT your friend.
Neither are the environazis.
Blankets (those silver survival blankets will do in a pinch). An extra layer or two of clothing -- sweatshirts and sweatpants are cheap, compact, warm and comfortable. A few bottles of water and a few energy bars. Road flares. A portable CB radio isn't a bad idea.
I got one of those kitchen vacuum-sealer gizmos, and started using it to assemble emergency kits. The relevant one is the one I described above. The others are the urban emergency kit: stuff like clean socks, underwear and a toilet kit in case I have to make do and try to look presentable. And the shelter and fire kit: a tarp (Tyvek is good) and parachute cord to construct an emergency shelter, plus a cigarette lighter, matches and kindling to start a fire. Most of that is probably overkill for a road trip, but it all fits in a duffel bag.
How else can they track you with that GPS feature if you don't have service?
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