Last reviewed 31 October 2026
We just spent about $800 stocking water, food, radios, and batteries for our family. The water problem is now covered. The other cascade that really messes up a city in a disaster is communications, and it fails in a predictable order, which means a family can plan around each stage.
It rarely goes all at once. First comes congestion: the towers are still up, but everyone calls at once and voice calls fail while texts slip through. Texts use a fraction of the capacity and keep retrying on their own. Then comes patchy death: cell sites run on a few hours of backup battery, then a generator that needs fuel and road access. When that chain breaks, coverage dies in rings, one neighborhood at a time. After Hurricane Maria in 2017, 95% of Puerto Rico's cell sites were out of service, and ham radio operators carried health-and-welfare traffic for weeks.
The planning consequence is simple: you don't need one perfect tool. You need a ladder, because each stage kills a different layer.
1. Cell, but text-first
This is still layer one, and it costs nothing to set up today:
- Create the family group text now, before anyone needs it, and learn each other's numbers. Nobody memorizes phone numbers anymore, which matters the moment a phone dies and you are borrowing someone else's.
- Agree on check-in times (on the hour, say) so phones can sit in airplane mode between check-ins and batteries last days instead of hours.
- Text, don't call, when the network is jammed. A short text (“I'm OK, at home, power out”) gets through when a call won't.
2. The out-of-area hub
The oldest trick in emergency management, and still the best: when local circuits jam, long-distance often still works. Designate one relative outside the region as the hub. Everyone texts them; they relay. A cousin in another county with signal becomes the switchboard for family in a dead zone.
Pick the hub now, tell everyone who it is, and put their number on paper, not just in a phone that might be dead.
3. Internet anywhere
WhatsApp, Signal, Messenger, and Wi-Fi calling work on any Wi-Fi: a shelter, a library, an open network two streets over where the grid survived. A shared note everyone updates (“I'm at X, I'm OK, heading to Y”) is a family message board that works even when people check in hours apart.
And add the information-in layer while you are at it: a NOAA weather radio and your county alerts, so you are not only trying to reach family. You are also hearing what officials are actually saying.
One thing every family should know before they need it: you can text 911 in many counties now, including ours. The national rule is “call if you can, text if you can't.” Texting is for when you can't call, can't speak safely, or don't have enough signal for a voice call. If your county supports it, you text 911 directly (no spaces, no dashes, no group text), put your exact location and the nature of the emergency in the first message, and stay on the thread for follow-up questions. Coverage varies by county, so check yours today and teach everyone in the family what your county does. Here in Miami-Dade it has been live since June 2025. Most people have no idea it exists.
4. Radio, with honest distances
This is where most preparedness content lies to people, so here is the honest version.
Handheld to handheld: the “36-mile” claim on the box of radios like the Midland pair we just bought is mountaintop math. In flat suburbs, expect 1–3 miles. That is the neighborhood layer. Useful, but it is not county-to-county on its own.
Through a repeater: a repeater on a tall building hears your handheld and rebroadcasts it much farther, sometimes tens of miles, depending on terrain and height. South Florida has GMRS repeaters listed on myGMRS.com covering the places your family actually spends time. The catches, and they matter:
- Program them in advance. Your radios need the repeater channels and tones saved before the storm. A radio bought in a panic and never programmed is a paperweight.
- Ask first where required. GMRS repeaters are privately owned, and some require the owner's permission. Don't assume every listing is open.
- Test from the real locations. A repeater's estimated coverage is only an estimate. Try it from home, from work, and from wherever family would actually be calling from.
The license: GMRS needs an FCC license. It costs $35, there is no test, it is valid for 10 years, and one license covers your whole immediate family (spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, and more). You must be 18 or older to hold it, and you apply online through the FCC. That one $35 license is what unlocks repeater use for the family.
Ham radio is the deeper bench: repeaters everywhere, linked systems statewide, and it is what actually carried Puerto Rico. But everyone transmitting needs their own Technician license, which means a real exam. Honest framing: GMRS is the family tool; ham is the hobbyist commitment.
5. Satellite, the “everything is down” layer
This is the only layer that doesn't care what's happening on the ground.
- Your iPhone, if it's an iPhone 14 or later running iOS 18 or later, can send Messages via satellite with no cell or Wi-Fi signal at all, free for two years after activation. It needs a clear view of the sky, it's slower than normal texting, and you can practice it in advance with the Satellite Connection Demo in Settings > Apps > Messages. Set it up before you're off the grid: iMessage on, SIM active.
- A dedicated satellite messenger (like a Garmin inReach) does the same job from a device that runs for weeks on a charge, from anywhere, for the price of the device plus a monthly plan. For a family, the phone you already own is the free starting point. A dedicated device is the upgrade if you want something that isn't also your flashlight, map, and battery drain.
The plan is the product
The gear is the easy part. Radios arriving in a box (ours land Monday) don't keep a family in touch. The plan does, and it fits on one card:
- GMRS license filed ($35, 10 years, whole immediate family).
- Repeater channels and tones programmed, permission requested where needed, tested from home.
- Family group text created, numbers memorized or written down.
- Out-of-area hub chosen and told.
- Check-in times agreed.
- iPhone satellite demo run once, so nobody is learning it in the dark.
- The whole thing on paper: a laminated card in the go-bag and in the fireproof document bag, plus one practice run where the family actually radios each other.
Do it before storm season, not during it. Communication is the second cascade for a reason: when the phones stop working, the family that already agreed on how to reach each other is the family that does.
Sources: FCC General Mobile Radio Service rules (47 CFR Part 95, Subpart E) and FCC fee schedule: $35, 10-year term, no exam, immediate-family coverage. Apple Support, “Send a text message via satellite on iPhone” and “About Messages via satellite”: iPhone 14 or later, iOS 18 or later, free for two years after activation, clear-sky requirement. City of Miami Beach, “Miami Beach to Launch Text to 911 Service” (May 30, 2025): text-to-911 live across all seven Miami-Dade 911 centers, including Hialeah, from June 1, 2025, under the national “call if you can, text if you can't” guidance. Hurricane Maria cell-site outage reporting (95% out of service) and ham-operator health-and-welfare traffic, 2017. myGMRS.com repeater directory (for finding and programming local repeaters). Checked October 31, 2026.