Or: don't take your rental car that relies on cell service out of cell range.
Was anyone else expecting a story about actually going off the grid, you know, permanently?
Was anyone else expecting a story about actually going off the grid, you know, permanently?
The company advertises weekend camping/hiking trips as a use-case on their blog [1].
Also: they weren't an hour down a dirt road on BLM/NF land. The women were at a popular trail in a national park. The trail is a beginner class 1 five mile loop. Hardly a weird edge-case... literally an afternoon walk in the park.
Good thing they were in the PNW and during good weather, because this could've easily turned deadly in many other parts of the country. Being locked out of my car unexpectedly after a light&fast winter objective in the mountains or a light&fast summer objective in the desert -- especially solo -- would get pretty serious pretty fast. Hopefully I would be able to bust the windows and get at my water and bivy; if not, that would be a scary and dangerous night.
> Was anyone else expecting a story about actually going off the grid, you know, permanently?
Not per se, but definitely didn't expect a story about a parking lot at a roadside trailhead of a popular beginner day hike...
But really I'm just irritated by the bait and switch title, that to me promised a much more interesting topic than "here's a thing that can go wrong with one car rental company in situations it clearly wasn't designed for".
Not to mention, there are plenty of places in cities without cell service, like parking garages.
Of course it can't just turn off when it hits the fence, but a notification would be a pretty good idea.
"Select your Zipcar, pack your tent and pick your spot, from national parks with campsites to choice spots listed on USACampgrounds.info." [1]
Besides, even driving on the freeway between two cities, you can often find dead spots. Imagine pulling into a rest area in the middle of nowhere for a bio-break, only to find yourself stranded.
[1] https://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/best-vacations-for-solo-trav...
Peaks of Otter comes to mind as a fantastic day-trip or weekend destination from DC. Despite being a very popular spot for day hikes, and having a lodge, it does not have cellular service. Nobody would think their rental car would be inaccessible at a popular resort area.
If zipcar put a huge banner prior to checkout saying that you will not be able to access the car if you don’t have cell service, I bet a lot of people would think twice, which is why they don’t, which is what makes it shitty
This is why Zipcar issues a card for unlocking the car. I'm not sure why the people in the article didn't have one.
The next morning, the family tried to leave for sightseeing, but Mr. McCarthy couldn’t unlock the car with his app or RFID card.
From TFA.
I don’t 100% know how zipcar operates in each market but I’m guessing these long-distance bookings are pre-booked and you can’t just leave the car in the middle of nowhere.
Your phone and the car would only need to phone home at the start of a reservation.
I guess the car itself doesn’t have cellular at all and relies on the user’s phone? Could easily run into issues where the user has service but the car does not.
Could also see this playing out in underground garages.
It’s unclear why the car needs to phone-home for each unlock/start (but no restrictions on operation) within a reservation within its geo-fence. Common sense would be if the car is where you last dropped it off, it should allow you back in within the time of your reservation.
I've used Zipcar for a while in NYC and until relatively recently they didn't allow mobile unlock because a lot of parking garages don't have cell service. You had to use the card that comes with the subscription.
Yep, I clicked on it looking for an article about pitfalls experienced by someone (or several someones) building off-grid housing. Oh well
Tangent, but it is interesting to me, how many people now seem to be unwilling to go out of cell range. It reminds me of people decades ago who would go camping, but only with a car. If you had to leave powered-travel range, they were out.
This is less the case for me now, but there was a time when leaving my cell at home was a huge luxury. And I still enjoy days when I can go do things without it - pretty much the only time anymore when my time is truly my own.
Frankly, that’s silly.
In the very unlikely event that something goes seriously wrong, having a satellite-based emergency beacon is easily the difference between life and death or serious life-long injury.
I’ve spent plenty of time in the backcountry where cell service is not just spotty, but nonexistent. Now that beacons are cheap and widely available, I always take one.
Being self-sufficient and disconnected are good, healthy experiences — having an emergency communication mechanism for emergencies that you cannot handle yourself doesn’t detract from that.
And if their response is "that is stupid, take your sat device" then do so.
I've done a fair number of non-trivial self rescues due to ice fall, rock fall, injuries, and fast-moving weather while exposed at elevation. I value self sufficiency and take pride in the fact that I have never had to press that SOS button, even under extreme duress and real objective danger.
That said, I do think intentionally refusing the carry a sat comm is downright immoral unless you tell SAR that you do not under any circumstances want a rescue.
SAR's operating assumption is that you will want a rescue if you are not able to self-rescue. When someone notices you are missing, SAR will begin a search. If you don't have a sat comm, SAR will have to waste valuable resources on a wide search and possibly even put SAR professionals at additional unnecessary risk. If the emergent event is the result of something that impacts a large area -- storms, earthquakes, avalanche, rock fall, etc. -- other people may die because SAR spent too much time on you.
To be clear: I won't judge you for playing life-and-death with self rescue. That's fine. We all play dangerous games and risk is highly personal. But at least TELL SAR the game you are playing! Tell them you do not want a rescue prior to starting your trip. Otherwise, you are not only risking you own party's life, but also the lives of SAR professionals and other parties who may need their services at the same time.