Despite the fact that the technology involved in maritime telecommunications has improved rather quickly, people who are working at sea obviously do not get to make use or be able to access the very same telecommunication technology or infrastructure that the people who are on shore are able to use or have access to. And this is where the development of maritime telecommunications network becomes important. These days however, mariners are all trained to use and have access to a maritime telecommunications network that is composed of international shore phones as well as hundreds of public data switch systems and networks. Moreover, they must be able access different maritime communication systems for several reasons. First, mariners must be able to communicate with other ships regardless of the size or originating country.
Another reason is that today's mariners must be able to receive as well as send important maritime information regarding safety either to other ships or back to shore. They also need these systems to send and receive distress signals during emergencies to and from maritime rescue centers ashore as well as to ships that are nearby, regardless of where the ship sending the distress signal is located.These maritime telecommunications network and systems needs to be internationally inter-operable, in English, it needs to be a system that mariners, regardless of nationality can work with. Introducing new telecommunications systems and technologies to mariners can be daunting, because in order for these new maritime telecommunications network systems to be inter-operable or used by mariners from all over the world, the technology needs to be affordable, acceptable and also available to nearly all maritime countries and ships. Also, The National Coast Guard avoids encouraging the use of mobile phones as a substitute for the standard maritime radio safety and distress systems that are approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the International Radio Regulations. These mobile phones however, are allowed to be placed on board as an added safety measure.
This is because mobile phones, in general, cannot offer ship to ship safety as far as communications go. The same thing with sending out distress calls. This is because when you use mobile phones to make distress calls, as opposed to using maritime telecommunications network systems, the only person that will hear you make that distress call is the person you are calling. And besides, nearly all mobile phones are designed to be effective as land based communication tools and they become unreliable when used while you are in open sea. Their coverage at sea is limited, at best and they are particularly useless most of the times since you can't get a signal. And if you use mobile phones to call for help, and you have no idea where you are, coast guard officials won't be able to find you.