The California wildfires that have scorched more than 500,000 acres and claimed at least 15 lives have also had a limited effect on wireless services in the region.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C., which also carries T-Mobile USA Inc.’s traffic on its network in the state, reported 5 percent of its cell sites in San Diego and 1 percent in Los Angeles have been impacted by the fires, and service restoration efforts brought on-line nearly 50 percent of the impacted sites by late Monday. The carrier said it expects to bring additional sites on-line by the end of today, and sites that have not been restored are currently inaccessible due to safety concerns.
Cingular added that it is deploying backup generators to augment commercial power losses at cell sites, and it will deploy mobile cell sites, known as COWs, if needed. In addition, Cingular said it is working to donate approximately 1,100 phones to evacuation centers and the American Red Cross chapters in the region.
Cingular recommended customers limit calls to emergency or family contacts during high cellular traffic times and that customers use the carrier’s short message service to help free up the network for emergency personnel and 911 calls.
Verizon Wireless, which says it’s the largest wireless service provider in Southern California, reported its network had not experienced any problems, delays or dropped calls due to the fires, but it is prepared with technical equipment and COWs on standby to support firefighting activities and its network. The company added that approximately 6,000 wired lines were reported out of service due to fires and power loss.
Verizon said it has set up banks of payphones at some Red Cross evacuation sites and has donated more than 400 prepaid calling cards to the Red Cross for distribution to evacuees and firefighters. In addition, Verizon Foundation said it will donate $25,000 to the American Red Cross.
Wireless carriers were widely criticized this past summer following blackouts in the Northeast and southern Canada that left many cell sites without power and millions of customers with limited wireless service.
