samenome<p>I have bought a pump. Its job is to spray the house all over with water when a <a href="https://aus.social/tags/bushfire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bushfire</span></a> comes. There's only so much water, so it needs to be timed right, otherwise the house will dry out before the heat arrives.</p><p>So, attached to the pump is a controller made by the thoughtful and nice Graham and Matt at Small Farm Services. (<a href="https://smallfarmservices.net.au" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">smallfarmservices.net.au</span><span class="invisible"></span></a>).<br>I send it a 'start' over SMS and it starts. Later it sends me status messages. Marvelous.</p><p>The trouble, of course, is that <a href="https://aus.social/tags/mobile" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>mobile</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/networks" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>networks</span></a> get turned off and/or fail during bushfires. </p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Optus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Optus</span></a>, <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Telstra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Telstra</span></a>, any chance you could give me an indication of failure modes during fires? No, I didn't really think you would. <rolls eyes>. Did you know that <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Optus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Optus</span></a> funded a CRC into bushfires at ANU? It did/does really good stuff. (<a href="https://brcoe.org" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">brcoe.org</span><span class="invisible"></span></a>). Optus has issued press releases like this: <a href="https://www.optus.com.au/about/media-centre/media-releases/2023/11/optus-invests-to-protect-bushfire-prone-communities" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">optus.com.au/about/media-centr</span><span class="invisible">e/media-releases/2023/11/optus-invests-to-protect-bushfire-prone-communities</span></a>. <br>I cannot find out what MY base station's remaining vulnerabilities are, nor understand it's dependancies. Can *that one* last 20 hours without power? Can it's upstream links? Can I send an SMS over it if it is disconnected from Optus' authentication, authorisation and billing systems? What about Telstra? Coverage of both is good and I can see both towers - an advantage of living on a hill.</p><p>Without solid answers, I am looking to add some backup communications channel. I have an existing <a href="https://aus.social/tags/LoRaWAN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LoRaWAN</span></a> setup, and am wondering about firming it up and extending it out to very long range. The safe place I will be during the fire is about 10km away. Maybe that is the best independent path? But, maybe I should use some UHF data medium instead of LoRa? Something plainer, more commonly understood and dull?</p><p>Questions: <br>Anyone have resilience information for 4G SMS networks?<br>Should I buy a <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Telstra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Telstra</span></a> or Optus <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SIM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SIM</span></a>?<br>Backup medium? What is the most solid thing for, say 10km?</p><p>What does The Department of <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Radio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Radio</span></a> Mastodon think please?</p><p><a href="https://aus.social/tags/RF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RF</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/4G" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>4G</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/data" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>data</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/LoRa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LoRa</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SMS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SMS</span></a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/packetRadio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>packetRadio</span></a></p>