This is a good insight. As Smartphones satellite connectivity becomes more widespread, it's definitely expected that government will regulate it similar to cellular connectivity and require a free access to emergency services.
In the meanwhile, Apple is using it as a differentiated feature.
The challenge here is that these satellite networks get a significant amount of their operating revenue from charging for emergency-only communication. Unlike 911, the satellite company itself is also responsible for hiring the dispatchers on the other end. It's not clear how the satellite networks could give it away for free under the current business model.
(Assuming free meaning "any device can connect, regardless of subscription status". In this case, Apple is essentially subsidizing the service costs for their users, and only for a limited time - there is still a paid subscription on the backend.)
It's worth noting that the government already offers free distress alerting via the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system - though it's one-way communication only. It would be interesting if a future iteration of the system allowed for smaller antennas and two-way communication with the rescue coordination center dispatchers.
No, as you mentioned, 406link is a commercial hack that detects a PLB's "test" message and uses that to trigger a pre-programmed "I'm ok" message. But that's not what I'm referring to.
By one-way communication, I was referring to the default "I'm in distress, here's my coordinates, send help" message, which is the only message the system can officially transmit. There's no way to carry on a two-way conversation to collect further details, or even a mechanism to acknowledge the message - though due to a very robust system design, it's very unlikely the message wouldn't get received.
> Mandatory 911 sat service on phones that support will save a lot of lives!!
How many people have died in the US because they were in distress but did not have cell phone coverage and were in a position where they could send a transmission to a satellite (e.g. clear view of the sky, etc.)?
Exactly. Search and rescue missions based on the itineraries, last known position reports etc. of missing hikers alone are incredibly resource intensive. It‘s not unlikely for members of the SAR team to get injured or even killed during such an operation.
I've seen a lot of studies that model human life with a dollar amount. It's depressingly low. I think I was reading a traffic study (can't find it) that modeled pedestrian deaths at $1M, in a city where many people walking around have a higher net worth than that (because of housing prices).
Honestly that sounds like a better use case than some being described. It was clearly an emergency situation and someone could have presumably reached them relatively quickly. Maybe car breakdowns or getting stranded are the bigger deal.
Off the top of my head (local news or cases I have heard of from fellow hikers):
One keeled over dead, on the trail and part of a group.
Two diabetics, alone but not lost.
One found dead on the trail, apparently an insta-kill medical issue.
One lost, never found, but I suspect he was actually a suicide. If not, he was trying for a Darwin.
One near the road going for help after a vehicle breakdown.
One got cliffed out trying to go for help after a vehicle breakdown. Not really lost, but unable to proceed.
One disappeared, his body hasn't been found where he was expected to be but given his experience level lost is unlikely. Personally, I suspect he went off trail for something and keeled over.
There have also been two skeletons pulled out of the desert, probably lost but it's unlikely we will ever know.
Admittedly, a small sample but note that only 20% of those appear to be lost.
I've also talked to a woman who just about became one of those statistics--new to the area and didn't respect the heat. Not lost.
Most wilderness deaths are medical or accident, not lost, and a lot of national park deaths are traffic accidents.
And that's in total. I don't know if we can get an accurate number of the number of legitimate uses of this service/year-- even by an order of magnitude.
I'm pretty sure apple will advertise it in next year's iPhone event though
In the meanwhile, Apple is using it as a differentiated feature.