Today’s large outage across MS Teams and email shows a need for back up communications, whether it’s a cloud service or your phone. As of now the site is still throwing some errors and major companies have been disrupted…
It was reportedly caused by some servers becoming unavailable… and it is worth noting that similar issues have happened in cell phone networks during high use times and emergencies. Ham radio repeaters also are not guaranteed to be up, but they are generally separated systems, and some nearby repeater is bound to work. One way that works and is not so dependent on a server or cell phone infrastructure at all is direct/simplex communications with nearby radios.
A ham radio license requires a class and a test, GMRS requires no test, just a payment to get an FCC license. It’s always a good idea to be prepared this Christmas, and perhaps share some radios with your friends and family.