Tags: Telecom, Hurricane, Wireless, Cell Tower
Publication: USAToday.com
Publication Date: 10/30/2012

Working cell towers are still at risk as the storm continues to pass and commercial power slowly comes back. Image credit: David Schexnaydre

Almost 25 percent of wireless cell towers in 10 states are down due to Hurricane Sandy. Cable services and landlines were also affected, and a few 911 call centers had to reroute their calls.

Telecom firms voluntarily reported their outages to the Federal Communications Commission but there are no estimates yet on how many wireless and cable customers have been affected. It has been reported, however, that around 158 counties from Virginia to Massachusetts are experiencing cellphone outages.

The FCC is expecting further disruptions, especially for mobile networks, considering that some cell towers using backup generations can go down before electrical power is restored. Almost 8 million people are still without power and it might stay that way for many days or even weeks in some areas. Other factors for communication outages that could last a few days are floods and heavy snow in some states created by the storm.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, Cablevision Systems, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have all reported service and infrastructure problems. To help the situation, FCC is urging consumers to limit “non-essential” calls and to text, e-mail or use social media instead when possible.

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