VHF radio actually works just as good if not better around here. With a VHF and a GPS. One will usually be fine assuming thier equipment works properly. I know a few people who have sattelite phones. The area is so vast that cellular is just to expensive with so few people to justify its cost.

I learned my lesson the hard way. I was doing a drop off/pickup hunt in 2001
My buddy nor I had a proper radio. We were scheduled to be picked up on the 12th of September. Our plane didnt show until the 15th. We were effectively stranded with no idea where our pickup was. We figured something was up when we didnt see an airplane in the sky at all(I live under a major air route from Alaska to east Asia. Literally dozens of cargo planes daily cruising over in convoy at 30k ft.

So now needless to say, My pack now contains a VHF radio. One can contact emergency services. Contact passing boats and airplanes. All of the bushplanes in the area have a VHF they monitor for such things. That being said, when it does come time for SAR. Large parts of the community mobilize. It is often times people we know, friends or family. I have had several cases of happy endings to a search. Also more than enough where it turned into a recovery.

Thankfully we had food and shelter and more or less everything we needed. It was a worrisome by day three of not being picked up. When my buddy landed on the pond I was overjoyed and quite pissed off. He had a newspaper showing what happened on 9-11. I was probably among the last in the world to find out. News didnt get to me until 4 days later.