This year’s El Nino phenomenon has brought unseasonably mild weather to some parts of the nation while slamming others with sudden bizarre weather, including flooding in California, ice storms in the Northeast and tornadoes in the South.
The strange weather has effected some wireless systems. PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P.’s network was effected during Chicago’s blizzard, when the city’s electrical system was knocked out. AT&T Wireless Services Inc. reported an unusual static electricity in the air during a rare hurricane along the Pacific Coast, and some minor network problems during flooding in California. The company brought in cells on wheels to compensate for cell sites that were flooded.
Severe weather often translates into increased volume on wireless networks when traditional communications systems are damaged.
Neither BellSouth Cellular Corp. nor AT&T reported any damage to their networks during recent tornadoes in Florida and Georgia, but BellSouth said it had to increase capacity with COWs. The company reported a 1,000-percent capacity increase in Florida to accommodate media and emergency workers in the area, and the company increased capacity about 50 percent in North Georgia to accommodate emergency crews.
Bell Atlantic Mobile also reported increased cellular usage in its Vermont markets during an ice storm in January. Call volume increased 1,000 percent in its Alburg area, and 200 percent in its St. Albans area. Battery and generator back-up systems enabled the carrier’s network to continue operating with minimal outages, said the company.
“El Nino brought us a very mild winter this past season,” said Maggie Rohr, a spokeswoman for Bell Atlantic. “When this storm hit, it was surprising.”
When it comes to severe weather, wind is one of a tower’s biggest foes, said Terri Burkholder, technical administrator for SpectraSite Communications Inc., a build-to-suit tower company that provides construction services. Each county has wind load standards that tower constructors must comply with. The higher the wind standard, the heavier the tower must be constructed in order to withstand high winds, said Burkholder.
AirTouch Cellular Southern California began taking precautions for El Nino as early as last August, said Melissa May, a spokeswoman for the company. AirTouch did everything from reinforcing roofing to cleaning out gutters at cell sites in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of weather-related damage to its network. The company also added 38 digital and 13 analog sites to handle increased call volumes, and it fortified its coverage of the Malibu area, which typically is one of the hardest hit areas during bad weather, by activating a cellular antenna on the existing Los Angeles County communications tower located at the Malibu Civic Center.
“When the weather is bad, it is the carrier’s responsibility to make sure customers continue to have service,” said May. “Being prepared is part of our job.”
Many carriers in areas effected by El Nino also donated free phones and airtime to emergency crews for rescue and clean-up efforts.
