Subject: RE: [NEXTEL-1] Digest Number 645

From: "Thomas, Paulletta C. CAVHCS" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:34:13 -0700

Does anyone have actual data on how Nextel has performed during emergencies
in the past?  I've heard that PTT worked during the power outage in August.
Can that be confirmed?

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 2:09 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Digest Number 645

There are 11 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

      1. The House Task Force on  Fire Protection Funding Task Force Report
           From: [email-masked]
      2. WirelessDevNet Daily NewsWire - Sep 17, 2003
           From: [email-masked]
      3. Nextel Prepares for Hurricane Isabel
           From: [email-masked]
      4. City Needs $100M Radio System
           From: [email-masked]
      5. Sprint Prepares for Onset of Hurricane Isabel
           From: [email-masked]
      6. Plug and Play
           From: [email-masked]
      7. Wireless Security Products Flood the Market
           From: [email-masked]
      8. Energy and Commerce Schedule Changes and One Hearing Notice]
           From: [email-masked]
      9. Panel Assigns Appeal Of FCC's TRO To 8th Circuit Court
           From: [email-masked]
     10. More than $4B in Fed grants available
           From: [email-masked]
     11. CIOs should be ready to explain
           From: [email-masked]

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:52:52 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: The House Task Force on  Fire Protection Funding Task Force Report

The House Task Force on  Fire Protection Funding Task Force Report

Representative Donald L. Moffitt, co-chairman

Representative Michael K. Smith, co-chairman

December 2002

http://www.state.il.us/osfm/News/HouseGOPTFR.pdf

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Message: 2
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:12:55 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: WirelessDevNet Daily NewsWire - Sep 17, 2003

http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/news/2003/sep/17/newsfeed.html

[This message contained attachments]

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Message: 3
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:17:03 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Nextel Prepares for Hurricane Isabel

Nextel Prepares for Hurricane Isabel
Wednesday September 17, 9:45 am ET

Nextel Stresses Importance of Emergency Planning and Urges
Customers to Prepare an Emergency Communication Plan

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2003-- Nextel Communications Inc.
(NASDAQ:NXTL - News) is preparing for Hurricane Isabel. With emergency
backup
plans in place, a Nextel Emergency Response Team (ERT), and communication
advice
for customers, Nextel is taking proactive steps in anticipation of this
impending
storm
and urges its customers to do the same.

Wireless customers, whether
individuals, businesses or public
safety organizations, rely on Nextel
to meet their communication needs
during emergencies. With Nextel
Nationwide Direct Connect(TM) plus
Satellite Cellsites on Wheels
(SatCOWs) and Cellsites on Wheels
(COWs), Nextel has the unique
ability to respond to unpredictable
emergencies, both natural and
manmade, faster and more
effectively.

Nextel's ERT plays a big part in
meeting customers' emergency
needs. ERT coordinates and
manages the company's resources
to meet the needs of Public Safety organizations and personnel. In the
threat or
event
of an emergency, ERT provides communications capabilities and technical
expertise
to
city, state and federal emergency workers, as well as utilities and other
necessary
infrastructure organizations.

One of the ERT's resources is the SatCOW, which is one of Nextel's newest
and most

versatile tools, and features state-of-the-art "go anywhere" satellite
technology
to
respond to public safety and first responders on a national level. It
enhances
Nextel's
Emergency Response Team's (ERTs) existing capabilities by fully deploying,
in less

than 45 minutes, simultaneous communications to multiple agencies.

"Nextel's number one concern is for the safety and well being of its
customers,
employees and the community," said Greg Meacham, vice president of federal
programs and homeland security for Nextel. "We urge our customers to have an
emergency communication plan as part of their emergency preparedness
efforts."

Nextel Prepares for Emergencies
Nextel maintains its all-digital, wireless national network 24

hours a day, seven days a week in order to prepare for

emergencies as well as handle them as they happen.
Nextel cell sites and switching offices are designed and built

to withstand hurricane force winds.
Nextel has Satellite Cell sites on Wheels (SatCOWS) - one of

Nextel's newest and most versatile tools, and features

state-of-the-art "go anywhere" satellite technology to respond

instantly to emergency communication needs.
Nextel also has additional Cell Site on Wheels (COWs), which

are self-contained mobile cell sites.
Nextel's cell sites are backed up with high-powered batteries

and/or backup generators to immediately neutralize any loss of

commercial power.
Nextel's switching facilities have multiple generator backups

and have automatic cutover switches to immediately neutralize

any loss of commercial power.
Nextel has hundreds of backup generators ready for deployment.

Nextel urges all its customers, whether individuals, businesses or public
safety
organizations to include an emergency communication plan as part of their
emergency
preparedness.
Businesses should prepare an emergency communication plan,

including designating a contact person outside of the

immediate area.
Residents should prepare a family communication plan,

including someone outside of the immediate area as a contact

person.
Program emergency numbers, including your insurance company

into your phone. Make sure to include the area code when doing

so.
Make sure you have plenty of charged batteries and a car

charger in case you need to evacuate or if power is lost to

your home.
Residents in areas at highest risk for storm damage should

evacuate when instructed to do so.
If you do evacuate your home or business, place your cellular

phone number prominently on your door or another visible place

so emergency personnel can contact you if necessary.

Keep your wireless phones dry at all times.
Receive weather alerts on you wireless phone to stay abreast

of current weather situations, in case a television or radio

is unavailable.
In an emergency, use your wireless phone for text messaging

instead of calling.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030917/175433_1.html

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Message: 4
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:01:51 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: City Needs $100M Radio System

City Needs $100M Radio System

New Radio System Is Two Years Away

POSTED: 9:56 p.m. PDT September 16, 2003

SAN DIEGO -- Officials say the radio system that connects San Diego's
police,
firefighters, lifeguards, port police and city utilities to the dispatch
center is
outdated
and needs to be replaced.

Replacing the system will not be cheap, but police
and fire officials say that's the price of safety.

Every once in a while, according to paramedics,
when they try to reach the dispatcher on the radio,
they cannot get through right away.

"There's been times downtown when it's been hard
for us," said paramedic Jessica Haney.

The problem, according to the Fire Department, is
that the radio system has a limited number of channels. Only 18 people can
talk at
a
time.

"The radio just simply honks at you," said Division Chief Bruce Cartelli.
"You go
to talk,
and it just beeps. That beep means no channel available."

He said you can usually get through 10 to 15 seconds later, but those
seconds are
important. Cartelli worries about the safety of firefighters and police
officers
out in the
field.

"When something falls on you and knocks you to the ground, and you need to
report
you're trapped, and that radio is going to honk at you, that's unacceptable
in
today's
technology," he said.

Officials say the system is more than 10 years old and no longer
state-of-the-art.

They say the aging radio system has not posed a threat to public safety, but
it
must
be replaced before it does.

The city said the new radio system and other equipment could cost more than
$100
million over 10 years. They said that's why a new system is at least two
years
away.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2489770/detail.html

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Message: 5
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:25:17 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Sprint Prepares for Onset of Hurricane Isabel

Sprint Prepares for Onset of Hurricane Isabel
Tuesday September 16, 4:35 pm ET
Company Asks Customers to Restrict Calls to Those Considered Essential in
The
Event of Power Outages

WAKE FOREST, N.C., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- As Hurricane Isabel moves closer
to
the East Coast, Sprint personnel across the eastern United States continue
to
monitor the storm and tailor recovery plans. Sprint's disaster response
planners
put personnel across the East and Midwest on alert, in addition to plotting
logistics and staging supplemental equipment in strategic locations.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO )
The company also is communicating with local emergency management
organizations
and community leaders to keep them apprised of Sprint's capabilities in the
face
of the storm.

Sprint is reviewing the areas that may be most affected by the hurricane,
and what
additional personnel and equipment resources may be needed in those areas.
Sprint
expects its previous experience with hurricanes and its ongoing
infrastructure
investments to help it be well prepared for Hurricane Isabel. There are
hundreds
of skilled and dedicated technicians and other front-line Sprint personnel
ready
to respond, many of whom live in the hurricane's path.

At Sprint, emergency preparation for weather and other possible network-
affecting
events is a year-round exercise. While storms of this magnitude can be a
real
challenge, Sprint is well prepared to deal with their effects. In fact,
Sprint's
preparations for Isabel began months ago because preparation for hurricane
season
in an annual event for the company. With this foundation in place, Sprint is
able
to focus on the final preparations for wireline and wireless sites, such as
making
sure generators are completely filled with fuel, PCS cell site batteries are
fully
charged and all emergency supplies are available. In addition, Sprint uses a
highly effective process for moving needed equipment to the area to begin
the
recovery should Isabel affect its sites.

After Isabel makes landfall, especially in areas where electrical power is
known
to be affected, Sprint asks customers to make only emergency or other
essential
calls. This preserves battery capacity and gives the company additional time
to
move backup generators into areas affected by extended power outages.

Customers are asked to report outages only once, using their local repair
service
number listed in the Sprint Phone Book.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030916/cgtu082_1.html

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Message: 6
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:45:13 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Plug and Play

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted rules that will help
smooth the transition to digital television (DTV) for millions of Americans.
The
FCC's new "plug-and-play" rules will ensure that most cable systems are
compatible
with DTV receivers and related consumer electronics equipment.

A "plug-and-play" digital television is a television that you can plug
directly
into your cable system and receive analog and most digital cable services
without
the need for a set-top box. More and more cable services are being provided
in
digital format, and broadcast stations are in the midst of the transition
from
analog to an all-digital service. Currently, plug-and-play is available for
most
analog services over cable, but not for digital.

Some advantages of plug and play are:
* Many consumers like the convenience (and cost savings) of receiving cable
programming without the need of a set-top box. If nothing else, it's one
less
remote control to keep track of!

* You will be able to take your plug-and-play set virtually anywhere in the
country and know it will work on cable systems offering digital services.

* Plug-and-play will allow you to fully utilize the features and functions
provided by the television set that often are disabled when connected to a
cable
set-top box.

For more information, read our factsheet
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/plugandplaytv.html.

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Message: 7
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:09:00 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Wireless Security Products Flood the Market

Wireless Security Products Flood the Market

Security is an issue with any network, and wireless is not an exception. New
products are hitting the market daily, and a review of the best and
brightest was
written up in Ziff Davis recently. VigilantMinds, AirMagnet and Network
Instruments, Trapeze Networks, AirDefense and Aruba are all deploying
products
that address the openness of wireless networks and help solve security
problems.

============================================================================
=====
A Safer Wireless World
Tue Sep 16, 8:47 AM ET

Add Technology - Ziff Davis to My Yahoo!

It's no secret that installing a wireless network
creates security concerns. And it's a no-brainer
to recognize that network traffic carried over the
air should be encrypted to prevent eavesdropping.

But more is required, and a handful of
vendors are stepping up to fill the void.
VigilantMinds recently announced AirXone,
an intrusion detection and prevention
product that provides special protection for
wireless networks. AirMagnet, Network
Instruments and other protocol analyzer
makers, as well as wireless (news - web
sites) security makers including AirDefense,
are also rolling out new security tools for
wireless networks. The premise of these
tools is simple enough: Wireless networks
nullify physical access controls and create
a hacking exposure.

Although I usually advise IT managers to
avoid spending money on wireless
monitoring tools-because nearly every
network problem can be solved using
traditional, and usually significantly less
expensive, wire-line tools-I have to say I'm
taken with the latest crop of
security-oriented wireless products I've seen
at eWEEK Labs. For example, Trapeze
Networks' WLAN Mobility System can
periodically put access points into
listen-only mode to ferret out rogue access
points. Aruba Wireless Networks' Aruba
5000 switch and Aruba 52 Access Points

can also discover unauthorized nodes. (See reviews of these products at
www.eWEEK.com/labslinks.) IT managers should pay close attention to these
products
because they listen for hackers and raise an alarm when hackers try to
access a
network.
AirXone takes wireless security to a new level by offering intrusion
prevention,
using access controls on the physical network to stop intruders. Look for
eWEEK
Labs' review of the stand-alone product in the next several months.

New products that adapt tried-and-true network security measures (intrusion
detection, user authentication and access control) to wireless security
problems
make it reasonable to implement wireless networks in organizations that have
feared doing so.
Of course, designing and building a secure wireless infrastructure from the
ground
up is better than adding it later. However, many of the security tools
coming on
the market offer a great deal of advice on implementing security for
wireless
networks that are already deployed.  For example, AirDefense's AirDefense
software
uses sensors to communicate what is happening in the air back to an
appliance that
processes the information.

Because the sensors are added to the network much like 802.11 access points,
they
are simple to install, and they maintain a close watch on wireless activity.
The
chief advantage of this approach to securing wireless networks is that the
sensors
don't need to know about legitimate access points. They just passively
listen for
traffic in the air and report what they find. IT managers then have to
figure out
which access points are legit and which should be taken down. Because the
sensors
are installed throughout the enterprise (news - web sites), they maintain a
constant vigil.

This approach has drawbacks, however. Unlike handheld wireless detectors,
such as
those provided by most of the big names in the protocol analyzer market,
including
Network Associates, once the sensors are installed, it should be assumed
that
sooner or later they will need to be upgraded. The cost of maintaining the
permanently installed sensors that are the backbone of the monitoring
systems
we've seen could become a serious drawback.

In our experience at eWEEK Labs, it has usually been enough to walk around
with a
wireless sniffer looking for rogue access points. The handheld, or more
often
laptop-based, sniffers are simple to upgrade and easier to maintain,
although they
are labor-intensive in that someone has to walk around a building to detect
and
capture wireless data.
At the end of the day, you'll need to balance several factors: the value of
having
wireless data access, the value of the data sent over the air and users'
requirements for privacy. For many businesses, the productivity gains and
convenience of wireless network access will outweigh the risks. This is
especially
true if wireless access is limited to Internet applications such as browsing
and
Web-based e-mail.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1738&ncid=1738&e=5&u=/zd/200
30916/tc_zd/103084

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Message: 8
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:12:19 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Energy and Commerce Schedule Changes and One Hearing Notice]

------- Original Message --------

From: Energy and Commerce Press <[email-masked]>
Subject: Energy and Commerce Schedule Changes and One Hearing Notice

The Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee markup scheduled for
Thursday, September 18, 2003 has been rescheduled. The purpose of the markup
was to consider H.R. 2898, the E-911 Implementation Act of 2003.  The markup
will now take place on Tuesday, September 23, 2003, at 1:00 p.m. in 2322
Rayburn House Office Building.  This event will be open to the public and
webcast live (audio only).  For the lastest information, please visit

http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Markups/09232003markup1084.htm

----------------------------------------
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce
W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Chairman
(202) 225-2927
http://www.house.gov/commerce

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Message: 9
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 13:53:19 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: Panel Assigns Appeal Of FCC's TRO To 8th Circuit Court

Panel Assigns Appeal Of FCC's TRO To 8th Circuit Court

A judicial panel on Tuesday assigned an appeal by the Regional
Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) and the United States
Telecom Association (USTA) of the Federal Communications
Commission's new phone competition rules to the 8th Circuit
Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The panel's decision means that the
RBOCs and USTA will have to wait a little while longer to see if the
appeal will reach their preferred destination, the U.S. Court of
Appeal in Washington, D.C., which has a history of overturning
prior FCC rulings. This past week, the two groups asked the D.C.
Circuit Court to delay implementation of the FCC rules, contending
that the regulations are are unlawful and specifically point to the
order's switching, transport, high- capacity loop and dark fiber
unbundling requirements. USTA

USTA President and CEO Walter McCormick said the D.C. Circuit
Court venue is "the proper circuit court to hear the appeal"
because of its vast experience and involvement in "extremely
important and complex issues" such as this one. "The appeal should
be expeditiously transferred to the D.C. Circuit," McCormick said.

www.telecomweb.com

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Message: 10
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:13:50 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: More than $4B in Fed grants available

 More than $4B in Fed grants available

 http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0915/web-input-09-15-03.asp

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Message: 11
   Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:14:20 -0400
   From: [email-masked]
Subject: CIOs should be ready to explain

 CIOs should be ready to explain
 http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0908/web-nasc-09-11-03.asp

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 16:27:24 -0400

> in the past?  I've heard that PTT worked during the power outage in August.

PTT worked for a short period of time until the cell site batteries died.
Bellow are some article on how nextel was afftected during the Black out
==========================================================================

From:
[email-masked]
8/14/2003 5:44 PM

Subject:
[NEXTEL-1] Nextel Switches Hit By Black Out-Anyone having Nextel problems?
To:
"[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>,
WFHSG <[email-masked]>

Nextel Switches Hit By Black Out-

I just spoke to a Nextel Eng in Westchester.

He reported :

* Several Nextel switches are runing on Generator power right now.

* Many sites in Manhattan down.

* Some sites have less than 8 hrs batt back-up.

* Major OC48 pipe is down linking switches.

More to come.  Anyone having Nextel problems?
=====================================================================================

Blackout gives cell phones a black eye
August 16, 2003 4:45pm
ZDWire Plus

Cell phone service once again failed to step up in the face of calamity.During
Thursday's blackout that darkened parts of the Northeast, most cell phone
subscribers were unable to make calls when they reached for their handsets. Only
the truly persistent were able to get through after the lights went out, the
largest U.S. carrier, Verizon Wireless, acknowledged in a statement Friday.In
addition, the top six cell phone carriers in the United States said they were
still battling outages on Friday morning. The carriers blamed the ongoing outages
on their cellular transmitter stations, which handle cell phone call traffic. "We
need electricity to power our cell sites, but when you don't have that, it's out
of our control," Nextel Communications spokesman Chris Grandis said.The
transmitter stations are powered by electricity, and most have battery backups
that provide three to six hours of additional operation. But when the blackout
stretched beyond six hours, the stations that were still working went dead.

This is the second time a significant number of American cell phone subscribers
had difficulty making calls during a time of crisis. The first was after the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when damage to the cell phone antennas on the World
Trade Center towers and heavy traffic brought wireless dialing to a standstill.
Thursday's blackout caused a similar surge in cell phone calls, creating about
four times the usual traffic in the area, according to Verizon Wireless.IDC
analyst Keith Waryas believes America's 146 million wireless subscribers will
continue to have problems getting calls through during emergency times, although
he believes the 2003 blackout will force carriers to better arm their networks
against electricity failures."These kinds of lessons are pointing to one thing:

We expect our cell phones to always be on," he said. "This is a learning
curve."Since Thursday, many wireless subscribers in the Northeast have returned to

the landline telephones they've increasingly given up in favor of cell phones.
Verizon Communications, a part-owner of Verizon Wireless, said Friday that use of
landlines was 300 percent above normal levels following the blackout. Traditional
lines continued working, because phone companies have added back-up power
throughout their systems, which also send electrical current to phones.The six
leading U.S. cellular companies were still working to return to full capacity on
Friday, in the face of ongoing problems."We're seeing strong improvements as power

is coming back up," AT&T Wireless spokesman Ritch Blasi said. "But even with that,

some calls aren't going through."He added: "Our back-up systems worked as
designed, but the extent and duration of this massive outage, which has been
called the biggest ever, affected our network."Among the worst-affected places
Friday were Detroit and Bloomfield, Mich. Some 75 percent of the Cingular Wireless

network in those cities wasn't working Friday morning, the carrier said
Friday.Nextel's Grandis said the company was sending generators to power cell
sites in the Detroit area.Sprint PCS spokesman Dan Wilinsky said all of Sprint's
18.8 million customers should have service returned by Friday. But "multiple sites

in the Northeast corridor continue to be impacted," he added.Verizon Wireless
reported a healthier outlook. "Throughout the country, service this morning is
normal, except for a few isolated areas in the five boroughs of New York City,
Detroit and Cleveland," the carrier said in a statement Friday.

http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR200308153300.2_b07a00145d9b1212

=====================================================================================

"Nextel Communications Inc. (NasdaqNM:NXTL - News), the nation's fifth-largest
wireless
company, reported similar problems in the blackout areas, but said its
engineers were working to restore service."

N.E. Phone Networks Flooded with Calls
Thursday August 14, 7:55 pm ET
By Jessica Hall

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Local and wireless telephone networks throughout the
northeastern United States were clogged with heavy calling volume but stayed in
operation on Thursday despite a massive power outage that swept from New York City

to Toronto, telephone companies said.
Verizon Communications Inc.
(NYSE:VZ - News), the dominant
telephone company from Maine to
Virginia, said its telephone networks
immediately converted to backup
power-generators and ran smoothly.

Some calls were blocked as a flood
of people tried to call friends and
family.

"The land line phones are working
fine. There's congestion on the
network as people try calling each
other," Verizon spokesman John
Bonomo said. "Each of the central
offices have separate power sources
and are operating normally."

Cingular Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. wireless company, said some of its cell sites --
or network
equipment that send and receive wireless signals -- experienced isolated outages
in parts of
New York, Ohio and Michigan.
Nextel Communications Inc. (NasdaqNM:NXTL - News), the nation's fifth-largest
wireless
company, reported similar problems in the blackout areas, but said its engineers
were working
to restore service.
The power outage, which occurred shortly after 4 p.m. EDT left homes and
businesses in cities
including New York, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto without electricity.
Emergency 911 calling services were not affected.

PAY PHONE BECOMES HOT COMMODITY

Without power, commuter trains and airports were closed down. Stranded workers
outside Penn
Station in New York found themselves fighting over pay phones, as overloaded
telephone
networks rendered some wireless phones temporarily useless.
Others walked into dark buildings near Grand Central Station, blindly looking for
pay phones
rather than stand in lines out on the street.
The outage was caused by a failure at a Manhattan power plant that destabilized
the power
grid as far as Canada, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) spokesman Bryan
Lee said.
Verizon, the largest U.S. telephone company and the partial owner of No. 1
wireless company
Verizon Wireless, said its local and wireless networks normally run on batteries
that are
recharged by commercial power supplies.
When commercial power fails, generators kick in to refuel the batteries. The
diesel
generators can be constantly refueled and support phone networks without
interruption,
Verizon said.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., Verizon
operated telephone networks in downtown Manhattan with generators for more than
six months,
Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe said.

The Federal Communications Commission requires a report within two hours if more
than 50,000
people are affected by a an outage by a local telephone company. An FCC spokesman
said the
agency had received no reports of wireline outages from phone companies as of 6:15
p.m. EDT.
Long-distance telephone companies AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - News), MCI and Cable &
Wireless Plc
(London:CW.L - News) said their networks operated smoothly.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, D.C., Sinead Carew in New
York,
Elinor Mills Abreu in san Francisco and Ben Berkowitz in Los Angeles)

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030814/telecoms_verizon_3.html

=================================================================================
 Nextel Reports A Six (6) State Outage Involving Hundereds Cell Sites

Calls, E-Mails Get Through
Communications Networks Withstand a Day of Strain

By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2003; Page A08

Cell phones worked, sort of, as long as you kept redialing.
E-mail went through, if your computer had power or you had a BlackBerry.
Old-fashioned telephones worked, too, but cordless ones didn't.
And pay phones were fine, if you could stand the long lines.

The power outage stressed the communications networks in the Northeast yesterday,
but officials at telecommunications companies said most people were able to find a

way to get their messages out -- if they were just persistent and patient.
"It was trial and error. We just kept trying until it worked," said Heather
Istwany, a D.C. first-grade teacher who was in New
York on summer break.

She was meeting a friend in Grand Central Terminal around 4 p.m., just as the
power went out. She and her friend left the train
station and immediately tried to call friends by cell phone. For the first hour,
Istwany got either a fast busy signal or silence. But
as she walked to the Manhattan Bridge toward Brooklyn, service finally seemed to
work. It helped, of course, that the outage came at the end of an August workday,
when many of the workers who weren't off vacationing just left their offices.

Verizon Communications Inc. said both its wireless and conventional telephone
networks worked throughout the outage,
although so many affected residents tried to use their cell phones that users
often heard fast busy signals, a sign that the network
was overloaded. "The network is working but carrying more signals that it is used
to," spokesman Eric Rabe said about an hour after the outage occurred. Other
wireless companies, including AT&T Wireless, Nextel Communications Inc., Sprint
PCS and Cingular Wireless said their networks had experienced some problems in
areas where the electricity went out. Sprint said that while its major switching
centers were operating, there were "multiple cell sites that were impacted."

Nextel said several hundred cell sites in affected areas of New York, New Jersey,
Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts and "possibly surrounding states" were
not operating because of the power loss. Engineers were restoring power using
generators throughout the evening, a spokeswoman said.

Cingular said the network it shares with T-Mobile in New York City had 1,650 cell
sites down. Cingular spokesman Ken Ketley said the company was concerned that the
longer the outage lasted, the more sites that could go down as the batteries ran
out.

Long-distance carrier AT&T Corp. said its normal load of 2 million calls every
five minutes jumped to 2.6 million shortly after
the outage and continued at that rate for at least two hours more. But the network

was able to handle it, said spokesman Dave
Johnson. "A 30 percent blip is no problem for us," said Johnson, who noted that
the call volume didn't even compare to the 435 million calls made on Sept. 11,
2001.

Consumers trapped in the outage found it wasn't always easy to get through the
telecommunications mess, especially initially.
With cell phones flipped open, residents in Lower Manhattan circled buildings in
search of reception.
"Eventually, people gave up and just started talking to the person next to them,"
said Kanika Dewan, 26, who lives in the Battery Park neighborhood just blocks from

the World Trade Center site.

For those Manhattanites who didn't have wireless phones, the pay phone was an
alternative, despite the long lines. Jason
Chopoorian, a 28-year-old project manager, was 10th in line for a pay phone in
midtown Manhattan. "I just thought the city
grid went. As I found out a lot more, I worried about the next shoe dropping. How
much cash do I have? Where's the water?
How can I contact my friends and family?"

In Cleveland, Ernest Brown tried to reach his brother who was 60 blocks away. When

he couldn't get a voice call through his
cell phone, he resorted to text messaging. Meanwhile, Virginia Beach resident
Diana Campbell, in town for medical treatment at
the Cleveland Clinic, could only communicate through the voice-mail system on her
cell phone. "I have not been able to talk
with anyone even though I've called and called," she said.

America Online saw about 300,000 members suddenly disconnect after 4 p.m.,
bringing the total number of users on the service down to 2.1 million -- "a very
noticeable and precipitous drop-off" according to spokesman Nicholas Graham.
The actual phone lines most people used to connect to the Internet remained
available, if crowded. Users could also
temporarily switch to more distant access numbers. And the batteries in laptops
and "uninterruptible power supplies" -- small
backup systems for desktop personal computers -- would allow a computer to survive

a blackout for a while.
Enough AOL users appeared to have used one or another of these workarounds to pack

chat rooms set up for discussions about the outage. On at least two different
sites, people had posted variations of the same joke: "Oops. Is that what that
plug did?"

At Verizon, which is in bargaining talks with its unions seeking to avert a
strike, some public relations officials worked by flashlight taking calls from
reporters, first on the status of the talks, and then on whether telephone lines
were down as well.
With the lights out and their computers down, they drew the blinds to conserve air

conditioning and hunkered down for a
possible overnight stay in their offices on 44th Street in midtown Manhattan. They

declined to say whether negotiators had been
affected by the sudden blackout, repeatedly reiterating a single line: "These
negotiations are a process."
So, too, was the power outage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60231-2003Aug14?language=printer

====================================================================================

At  approx1819 Hrs Nextel tells the media everythings is OK-

NE Phone Networks Operating Normally
Thu August 14, 2003 18:19 PM
 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3281246
__________________________________________________________________

At  approx 1953 Hrs Nextel reports problems with the Network.

UPDATE 3-Northeast U.S. phone networks flooded with calls Thu August 14, 2003
07:53 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3281772

  So I guess Nextel has the 1 hr 34 Minutes "Homeland Security" network.

==========================================================================

Nextel Goes Down Again On (2nd) Second Black Out

A Nextel Engineer reported sites went back down Friday on Staten Island's (NYC)
second black out. He said the batteries did not have enough time to recharge from
the 1st black-out. Even if they did the batteries would not have lasted durning
the Second Black out. He said things will not be back to normal until this week.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second Blackout on Staten Island
Raises Councilman's Ire

(New York-WABC, August 18, 2003) — A second, six-hour blackout on
Staten Island on Friday has some city legislators riled.

After power was restored to the island between 1 a.m and 4 a.m. on
Friday, it subsequently went out again in southern areas later that
morning, at about 9:45 a.m., and stayed out till 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

City Councilman Andrew Lanza is asking why the rolling blackout policy
that was in effect Friday to ease demand didn't reactivate the area
sooner.

 http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_081803_staten.html