Guides to signal and safety
What to do when the phone has no bars, which numbers work, and where the signal ends in places people go.
- What to do in an emergency with no signal Your phone shows no bars and someone needs help. What to try first, why an emergency call may still go through, how to find signal, and what to do when there is none.
- Does 112 or 911 work on any network, or with no SIM? Every mobile phone treats 112 and 911 as emergency numbers, on any network it can reach and with no SIM. What that means, where it does not help, and the numbers of your country.
- How to find cell signal when hiking or overlanding Where signal usually is and is not in the mountains and the bush, what to try when you have none, and how to know before you go where the last bar is.
- Before you go off-grid: a checklist What to do at home before a trip out of range: maps saved offline, a trip plan with someone you trust, the emergency number of the country, and where the signal ends.
- How to pre-record signal along your event route Ride or drive the route of your race, ride or rally with an Android phone recording a day or more before the start, so that every rider has a map of where the signal is, offline.
- How to map the signal on your reserve or farm trails Walk your hiking trails and drive your 4x4 routes once with an Android phone recording, so that every guest with LastBar sees where the signal is on them, offline.
- Finding signal in the Cederberg Where phones have measured signal in the Cederberg, along the valley roads and up toward Wupperthal, and where they found none. A map made by people who were there.
- Finding signal on Table Mountain Is there signal on Table Mountain and its trails? Where phones measured it on the mountain and around the city bowl, and what to do where there is none.
- Is there signal in the Tankwa Karoo? The Tankwa Karoo is one of the emptiest places in South Africa. What phones measured there: mostly no signal. How to plan for it.
- Finding signal around the Kogelberg Where phones measured signal between Gordon's Bay, Pringle Bay, Betty's Bay and Kleinmond, on the coast road and in the mountains, and where they found none.
- Finding signal in Prince Albert and on the Swartberg Pass Signal in Prince Albert and on the road over the Swartberg Pass: where phones measured it, where they found none, and what to plan for on the pass.