Mobile phone with tower independent long distance communication features

Tech level: more or less comparable to contemporary.

Location: forsaken, habitable planet with population of approximately 10-20 milion.

Wealth level: first world equivalent

Covering capital, main cities and nearby areas with local mobile phone towers equivalent and connecting them with optical fiber covers most of communication needs. There only remains one minor problem - the remaining 99% of the planet surface.

So it would be reasonable if standard mobile phones at this planet had some additional communication system, that works outside standard coverage range. Presumably of lower quality, ability to send some data package or text message is also really useful. Not even necessary to a nearby tower, juggling such package between nearby phones would also have some value.

For question purposes assume that if desperate such population can manage to maintain industrial base. The question only handles with technical aspect, not how to charge people for abusing emergency communication system to send lolcats (Assume that system of satellite communication would be too expensive)

How good long distance communication can be provided by such additional system in mobile phones assuming that weight of mobile phone has to be kept below half kilogram? (What would be approximately range? Would it bring some clearly visible changes to mobile phone shape like huge battery or antena? Would it be reasonable to use for this single purpose a different frequency like short waves?)

(Yes, I thought about just looking about commercially available walkie-talkies, but I was not certain whether some limitations are not technical but legal)

posted over 7 years ago

Shadow1024‭

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