Wireless carriers mobilized their resources earlier this month to maintain cellular service when an ice storm in upstate New York and northern New England left thousands without power or wireline phone service. Record wireless usage during the height of the storm also was reported.
Eight of 24 cell cites in the central New York service area of Cellular One- Upstate New York were completely down, and calls were routed to the functioning sites so customers never lost service, said Karen Merkel-Liberatore, director of public relations for Cellular One. Technicians and service crews worked around the clock inspecting and transporting generators and batteries to the cell sites, and one crew spent six hours clearing and cutting trees to get to one of the downed sites for repairs, Merkel-Liberatore added.
The company also deployed two Cells on Wheels, mobile cells that can travel to cell sites where support is needed. Both COWs were transported to Watertown, N.Y., one of the most heavily hit cities, to enhance the network if the cell sites failed.
David George, chief engineer for Cellular One, said the week of the storm was the busiest ever in central New York for cellular phone usage-with an average increase of 468 percent for the weekend of Jan. 9-11. Bell Atlantic likewise reported a 500-percent increase in call volume in the Alburg, Vt., area from Jan. 7-11, and a 1,000-percent increase on Jan. 9 and 10, the two worst days of the ice storm.
Both companies also donated phones and equipment to the Red Cross and other emergency agencies. Bell Atlantic donated phones to Gov. George Pataki and his New York State Executive Chamber, which headed up a survey team for disaster relief; the Federal Emergency Medical Assistance, which activated 115 wireless numbers and the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, which activated 35 lines. Cellular One in Syracuse and Watertown, N.Y., loaned virtually every available phone to the police department and the electric company Niagara Mohawk. Star Tek, a Cellular One agent in Massena, N.Y., liquidated its entire inventory to provide local police with phones.
