terryjohnson16
08-17-2007, 12:21 AM
I put this here cause this pertains to all carriers even, T-Mobile.
Cellphones failed again after Minnesota bridge collapse - Engadget Mobile (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/08/16/cellphones-failed-again-after-minnesota-bridge-collapse/)
Cellphones failed again after Minnesota bridge collapse
Posted Aug 16th 2007 11:17PM by Brian White
Filed under: Misc
When major disasters strike, cellphones have a bad habit of being about as useless as that morning piece of burnt toast. At least, that's what those working Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks found out, and those who were directly involved in the Minnesota bridge collapse more than a few weeks ago witnessed as well. Again, the culprit In Minnesota appeared to be overloaded cellular towers and switch traffic that apparently affected all carriers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where the collapse happened. With cellular service being integral to everyday life, should there not be contingency plans in place for continuing service in the event of a disaster? A recent suggestion of cellular "peer-to-peer" service that bypasses towers and switches in an emergency sounds intriguing to us. Maybe in 2015 or so we'll see it happen.I think all carriers should have backup cell towers that go live automatically when the main towers and network can't handle the overloaded cell sites. 3G won't sold this initially, since the whole network can become so jammed that in the event of a major disaster like 9/11 or any disaster that calls for people to call and contact friends and family. And I say that 3G won't help solve this initially, since all the major carriers in the area couldn't get calls out. Verizon, which is known to have serious coverage couldn't even handle the calls. Either Sprint and Verizon shared the towers there for roaming or by allowing each other to use the same tower, but for their own network, that could also have caused issues. Same with AT&T, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile roams up there, so if all the switches and circuits became full and jammed, then no carrier could have service.
Just like most sites have backup generators and power supplies just in case of a power outage, they should have backup switches, and other hardware that can kick in and handle the stress when the main sites go down.
I just think that all carriers whether large or small as defined by customers and/or coverage should have backup pieces of hardware that help push calls across in the event of a traffic jam, or when network issues occur.
In the event of an emergency, not everyone will be able to get to a landline. Cell phones will be the only method of communication. So, IMO, the local governments should stress this to the carriers to make their networks durable in the time of need, and more reliable everyday.
Cellphones failed again after Minnesota bridge collapse - Engadget Mobile (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/08/16/cellphones-failed-again-after-minnesota-bridge-collapse/)
Cellphones failed again after Minnesota bridge collapse
Posted Aug 16th 2007 11:17PM by Brian White
Filed under: Misc
When major disasters strike, cellphones have a bad habit of being about as useless as that morning piece of burnt toast. At least, that's what those working Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks found out, and those who were directly involved in the Minnesota bridge collapse more than a few weeks ago witnessed as well. Again, the culprit In Minnesota appeared to be overloaded cellular towers and switch traffic that apparently affected all carriers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area where the collapse happened. With cellular service being integral to everyday life, should there not be contingency plans in place for continuing service in the event of a disaster? A recent suggestion of cellular "peer-to-peer" service that bypasses towers and switches in an emergency sounds intriguing to us. Maybe in 2015 or so we'll see it happen.I think all carriers should have backup cell towers that go live automatically when the main towers and network can't handle the overloaded cell sites. 3G won't sold this initially, since the whole network can become so jammed that in the event of a major disaster like 9/11 or any disaster that calls for people to call and contact friends and family. And I say that 3G won't help solve this initially, since all the major carriers in the area couldn't get calls out. Verizon, which is known to have serious coverage couldn't even handle the calls. Either Sprint and Verizon shared the towers there for roaming or by allowing each other to use the same tower, but for their own network, that could also have caused issues. Same with AT&T, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile roams up there, so if all the switches and circuits became full and jammed, then no carrier could have service.
Just like most sites have backup generators and power supplies just in case of a power outage, they should have backup switches, and other hardware that can kick in and handle the stress when the main sites go down.
I just think that all carriers whether large or small as defined by customers and/or coverage should have backup pieces of hardware that help push calls across in the event of a traffic jam, or when network issues occur.
In the event of an emergency, not everyone will be able to get to a landline. Cell phones will be the only method of communication. So, IMO, the local governments should stress this to the carriers to make their networks durable in the time of need, and more reliable everyday.