Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Hurricane shouldn't stop use of cell phones

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 03:46:24 -0400

Hurricane shouldn't stop use of cell phones
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
By TERESA ANICOLA
Courier-Post Staff

With all the destruction Hurricane Isabel could cause if she calls on South
Jersey, chances are your cell phone calls still will go through.

"We're ready. We don't wait until the catastrophe occurs, we make year-round
preparations for extreme weather and disasters," said Sheldon Jones, spokesman for
Verizon Wireless.

Some of the preparations are built into the cellular network system, such as
back-up batteries and generators at cell tower sites in the event electrical power
is knocked out. This is common practice among all wireless networks, including
Nextel, AT&T Wireless, Sprint and Cingular Wireless.

The networks also have self-contained mobile cell sites called Cell Sites On
Wheels, known throughout the industry as COWs. In the event a tower gets
destroyed, the COWs are deployed to the site to support cellular service for the
area.

Nextel has taken the idea a step further with its Satellite Cell Sites on Wheels,
which have been in use for the past 12 to 18 months. The satellite, which can
restore service in up to a 10-mile radius, is mounted on a truck to be deployed
anywhere it's needed in an emergency.

It also is flown by plane when necessary, said Diane Rainey, a Nextel spokeswoman.

"Our cell towers were built to sustain hurricane-force winds," Rainey said. "It's
great that they can use it, but terrible when we need to use it because it's
usually a tragedy."
One problem cellular customers might experience is the networks becoming
overloaded by a surge in people trying to make calls at the same time, Jones said.

If this should occur, wireless users will hear a fast busy signal. Jones advised
callers to wait a few minutes and then redial.

"You can have a thousand-lane highway and still have a traffic jam," Jones said

http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/september/m091703j.htm

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