How To Weather A Storm Surge of Call Volume

Whether it’s 9/11 or last week’s rumble, most everyone should know by now that cell networks aren’t meant to handle everyone calling at once. Aside from power outages on cell towers, they don’t break: they just get overfull. We e-mailed with Mark Siegel, AT&T’s main PR guy, wondering what the provider can actually do to open up more room for traffic during a terrific storm like the one that’s about to land on New York City. Turns out not much at their end, besides trying to keep us from making non-emergency calls.

“In a situation like this, our focus is on putting extensive resources in place to restore service if we need to once the storm has passed,” Siegel says, and not so much trying to keep a busy signal out of your ear. Makes sense, I suppose: “out” service should take priority over shitty service.

Mainly, for communicating during an emergency, you should be trying to use text messaging and e-mail, and not regular voice phone service. The data sent over the network with a text message is so small that texting is essentially resource-neutral. Naturally, we want to talk to an actual person in an emergency, immediately – but just figure that every non-essential call is potentially putting other people in danger.

That said, here’s what Ma Bell says about making successful phone calls:

During an emergency, many people are trying to use their phones at the same time. The increased calling volume may create network congestion, leading to “fast busy” signals on your wireless phone or a slow dial tone on your landline phone. If this happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. This allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again.

There are no rules

The cell tower power issue is thornier. How well the telecoms are prepared for and capable of responding to service outages is ultimately up to no one but them. In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission asked the Bush White House to mandate eight hours of backup power for every cell phone tower in the country, in the hopes of avoiding the kinds of phone service interruptions that swept the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “We believe that having backup power for America’s communications networks during times of emergency is vitally important for public safety. Ensuring that reliable and redundant communications are available to public safety during and in the aftermath of natural disasters and other catastrophic events continues to be a high priority for the commission,” said FCC spokesman Matthew Nodine.

The industry group CTIA told the FCC to hold the phone, arguing that a backup station for every single cell tower – all possibly 250,000 of them – would be onerous and unnecessary. And the White House rejected the idea.*

But lack of federal regulation doesn’t mean that the telecoms aren’t serious about service. “Carriers already have implemented flexible business continuity/disaster recovery plans that address their backup power needs and enhance network reliability and resiliency,” said the industry group. “Having the flexibility to adapt to unique emergency situations will better serve American wireless consumers.” Of course, the telecom’s past experience doesn’t predict future performance, and assurances of readiness don’t mean much until zero hour (see the aforementioned hurricane that slammed into the Gulf Coast).

If things go totally haywire, we’re assured that AT&T has “a self-sufficient base camp, complete with sleeping tents, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry facilities, on-site nurse and more than 10,000 meals ready to eat (MREs)” at it’s disposal, for crews that need to do repairs.

Also note that if you’re on the East Coast right now, this is one hell of a time to not have a full-charge. Godspeed.

In Denmark, where the public safety network requires backup generators, Motorola has implemented energy-efficient fuel cells.

With additional reporting by Alex Pasternack. Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.