expecting wireless technology to work, in a blizzard, with the weak antennas that you get in phones now, yea... smart.
i think that everyone should have a box in their home, thats a cell phone mini tower, big ones are good for miles, i'm talking about ones that were be good for at most 100 yards, and would be directly connected to land lines.
this way, the cell phone is like a sophisticated wireless phone. and these boxes will ONLY be in use if you call an emergancy number, like 911.
all cellphones from now on would have to incorporate this (iphone costs 187$ to make, and put togeather, they charge 800ish, make them earn that 800 by forcing the government mandated feature) it would also connect if you call local poliece number, for your whole state (that is at most a 100,000 line file, easy to cross reference) depending on how fast it can search, possibly adjacent states, or whole country. using these towers, if not for emergency purapses (911), or a real need (local poliece) would result in a 500$ - 5000$ fine, and possibly jail time.
this would also make responses faster, as easier to triangulate your position