tybee204 said:
The National Guard in the area had one . The rest are being utilized in Irag at the time.
Tybee, more than the Nat'l Guard had them. See some SNIPS from a post 6 days ago
Posted 9/5/2005 7:50 PM
Satellite phones provide critical link to outside world
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Once-maligned satellite phones are serving as critical lifelines in Gulf Coast areas that lack other phone services after being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The National Guard, the American Red Cross, utility workers, reporters and people in search of relatives are among those snapping up satellite phones to communicate.
Globalstar, the other big U.S. satellite company,
sold more than 11,000 phones and leased 1,000 more for use in the region last week, senior marketing manager John Dark says.
Satellite phones are immune to terrestrial hazards because they communicate directly with satellites that hover more than 500 miles high and work virtually everywhere around the globe.
Federal emergency workers have lent the phones to those in New Orleans shelters who quickly call loved ones before handing them back, says Dennis Allen, Globalstar's senior vice president of sales.
About 130 workers from Tampa Electric toted 23 Iridium phones when they were dispatched from Florida to help repair outages in the New Orleans area, says Keith Sims, the company's telecom chief.
"Cell phones don't do you much good after a hurricane," Sims says. "The (satellite phones) have worked excellent, even better than some of the cell phones."
Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald editors have been using about 25 Iridium phones. "It's the only way they can talk" to colleagues, says Polk Laffoon IV, vice president of corporate relations for Knight Ridder, the newspaper's owner. Sometimes, he adds, "The phones cut in and out."
Despite such limitations, satellite phones have become white knights during disasters,
such as the 2001 terrorist attacks, last year's Asian tsunami and the hurricanes that pummeled Florida the past year.
Hurricane Katrina, like other calamities, sharply raises the industry's profile.
While federal agencies and utilities already had stocks of satellite phones, they are ordering more and keeping them, the satellite executives say. Many would rather not wait a day or two for additional satellite phones to arrive during a crisis.
ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2005-09-05-satellite-phones_x.htm?POE=TECISVA