APRS is a system that has good uses but the Internet is revolutionary.
EDIT: Though I suspect this isn't really practical. Are there any amateur bands near the GSM/CDMA bands?
How did Chris Paget's IMSI catcher demo at Defcon a few years ago work then? http://blog.marinetelecom.net/2010/08/01/ham-radio-operator-...
Oh, it's actually not too difficult to modify transceivers to work outside their regional prescribed bands. There are usually internal jumpers or, more recently, firmware modifications to expand their tuning ranges to include bands normally only allowed in other regions. Some of the software defined radios are surprisingly malleable. I was actually mostly just thinking about the possibility of getting a GSM phone to hit an amateur band freq or vice-versa without a lot of hacking.
This is why the emcom guys do ham radio instead of just packing a backup smart phone.
Your point still stands that only about 0.3% of the US population have a ham radio license and less have gear stet up for this peculiar mode.