Can I use the SOS to request roadside assistance?

oh yes, vehicle breakdown, just very recent experience, no , this time not triggered by inreach, but other channel.

Friday afternoon, island of Mykonos, quite dense inhabited. Reply from the car assistance 6 hrs later: there will be no assistance av until Monday noon time.

This not africa, it is EU, definitely no call possible on weekend.

So what should IERCC do other then call the correct assistance and get the message that no help av.

skyeye said:

So what should IERCC do other then call the correct assistance and get the message that no help av.

You are still confused about the difference between an emergency coordination service and the response resources available on the ground for assistance.

The two are totally unrelated and independent of each other.

A working inReach device will get you in touch with available assets locally, and in no way is the IERCC service promising or guaranteeing you any assistance on-site.

skyeye said:

And when it is only slightly remote place, rely on yourself.

To establish any kind of functioning system, you will need .gov of many countries to establish something halfway useful.

That is unrelated to Garmin inReach or any other satcom service.

What is possible and available in response to a situation does not change with mode of communication.

You would not be able to get more actual help on-site with a working mobile phone and Google – than the IERCC can do with their experience and network.

You are trying to discredit the inReach emergency service and highlight its shortcomings, but you seem to misunderstand the function and purpose.

Once coms to IERCC are up, the device and service is performing as expected.

The device provides communication via chat to expertise – not magic.

You are trying to discredit the inReach emergency service and highlight its shortcomings,

definitely not, as there is no need for it, there are numerous services like this and all have more less similar functionality

I just want to tell you, that calling advertising material source of information is not really what you want. You need to believe it. Then you will be happy. But to remain happy, you have to be sure you never need it in full colors. Believe is more task for a religion and this also makes lot of people happy.

And for real missions, make arrangements for use of preset msg, this is then really faster and making a real shortcut.

For a real difficult mission, I tried to explain that there is red button... professional security experts did not thing of this being useful function and ordered me to make some special preset msg for them, if Iridium, then this way they decided.

No, I do not want you to loose confidence in some well established service. Only thing I am telling you not to overestimate the ability of any of any of such service, regardless of who is organizing it or how is it financed. Any of the similar services 'have big experience'. How did they gain such experience and how long did it take? Who did train them initially?  We do not know such details so we can not make any real assessment of the service. Unless we have some own first hand experience and some healthy common sense logic to make own picture. But for this, more then one single source of information is needed, and not only the information from the one who wants sell it to you.

skyeye said:

I just want to tell you, that calling advertising material source of information is not really what you want. You need to believe it.

skyeye said:

Only thing I am telling you not to overestimate the ability of any of any of such service, regardless of who is organizing it or how is it financed.

It looks like you think that IERCC is responsible for the emergency rescue effort. They are not.

Does Garmin say that anywhere?

Your response and previous statements in this topic show that you truly are unaware of what IERCC is all about – and have not bothered to research further.

Your comment about using Presets over SOS show that you live in your own world with a unique organisation and user group/setup. 

The International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC).

“I know from experience how all works, not from reading”.

That 22-year experience is worth little when you are 1) Wrong and 2) Unable to accept that you shared incorrect information, even after being corrected.

Please go back in this thread and reread my answers to you, including the links.

As ex-military I appreciate your philosophy for redundancy and contingency planning.

Your misinformation on inReach and clear lack of knowledge, not so much.

The inReach Terms & Conditions openly state what the service can/will do. It's not advertisement, it's a contract.

You have your sources and experience, I have mine. I trust mine.

To summarize reality:

IERCC is responsible for handling SOS messages from iR devices. That includes bi-directional messaging with the sender to clarify the nature of the emergency. IERCC will contact the emergency contacts on the sender's account. IERCC will then do its best to dispatch THIRD-PARTY emergency responders. IERCC does not itself PROVIDE emergency response. The availability of appropriate responders varies with the nature of the emergency and the location of the sender. 

In addition to pressing SOS, it is not a bad idea to independently message private parties who might be able to assist. This is particularly true when the proper emergency responders are NOT law enforcement, SAR, or similar bodies. Roadside assistance is a good example of this situation.