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by mlrtime 154 days ago
On a cruise ship, isn't the cheap walkie talkies still a thing? Or did those die with cell phones?

For me the cell phone without internet is almost useless, not much I can do on it, might as well sue a purpose built device. They're also very cheap.

Even better if Nextel still worked on phones (but without service).
3 comments
fc417fc802 154 days ago
> For me the cell phone without internet is almost useless

Projects like this one are a step towards fixing that. Personally I choose to keep both street and topographical maps of the entire continent locally on my phone. There are plenty of uses for a computer without a WAN connection.

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cbdevidal 154 days ago
I once wrote an article detailing as many prepper uses for an offline phone as I could think of. Dozens of offline apps useful for a survival situation. My favorite might be ATAK, which is from the US military and allows a team to communicate encrypted over Wi-Fi or radios, completely offline. Share GPS coords, camera feeds, messages, map markers, all kinds of goodness.

And if nothing else, you can always rupture the battery and start a fire :-)

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drittich 154 days ago
And of course you can now run local LLMs on your phone as well.
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cbdevidal 154 days ago
Prepper J.A.R.V.I.S. :-)
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Elfener 154 days ago
The fact the even simple encryption with walkie-talkies is basically illegal might be problem (though I have no idea how/if that applies to at-sea ships).
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subscribed 154 days ago
Well, it's not illegal per se.

On the cruise I'd need to seek the written permission of the vessel's master's to operate :) (and ideally cruise company permission to even bring the transmitter on board)

Unlicenced passengers could probably plead ignorance and sneak UHF DMR radios.

Or get a business allocation and use P25 radios and once again plead ignorance :)

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6510 154 days ago
The boat could do a captive portal and provide it's own LAN?
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mlrtime 154 days ago
The boat could do a lot of things, but providing tech for free is not high on the list.
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Elfener 154 days ago
This is definitely a thing (though sometimes comes with a fee): https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/texting-on-a-cruise-7-...
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