We are so lucky to have lives that include our own land. ( Until we have to trim brush etc) I don't care to travel and I could make it on my own, if I needed to. Maybe then I would put my phone in an aluminum box just so I had it if I needed it. But I think we would all be better off it we buried that box.
I cant say that I miss that thing Mary but as I am now increasingly uncomfortable being way back in the bush on my own I wonder if I should have one with me...however the spotty service of such things around here makes me not bother. I just am more careful and less eager to head back on my own in recent times....!!
I wonder what the cost of satellite phones is these days. Of course, you have to have an unobstructed view of the sky...tree canopies are not your [communication] friend.
The newest Apple Watches are now also able to connect to satellite ! My older son and my daughter both have one, of course. It is not the same as having a satellite phone, but it is intended for a person who is out of cell range and needs help. The watch will lock in on a satellite, and you send a preprogrammed help message (I’m lost, I’m hurt, etc) and the satellite picks up the message and gps location and sends it to the nearest place that has emergency services. I don’t remember if they can answer back to let the lost person know that help is on the way, but at least the person knows that the message has been sent and someone will be coming as soon as they get the message. Neither of my kids are apt to be getting lost in the woods out of cell service, but the new watch had other features that they wanted. The new Apple Event is tomorrow morning at 10, so they will be announcing some of the new products coming up this fall. I love watching all the new stuff, even if I am not getting any of it ! If you miss it in the morning, then it is on youtube on the Apple channel. If we are gone to the fitness center, I will just watch it tomorrow afternoon on youtube. I have been doing the beta-test for iOS 17, so all my devices are up to date and ready for when the new one comes out.
I suppose I check my phone a couple of times a day, but I almost never leave home without it. A few months ago, my +80 year old cousin, who lives along a major River, was mowing his back yard with his riding mower, and somehow managed to run it over the river bank, which is about a 25' or so drop down to the river. He was badly injured, but was able to call for help since he had his cell phone with him. He lives alone, and without that cell phone, he would have died on that river bank, penned beneath the mower. Thank God for cell phones.
Stuff like that (and snake bites) is exactly why I got an Apple Watch with its own cell service and One Touch 911...it's always on my wrist. I'm glad your cousin's OK.