Cingular Wireless Ready to Weather Hurricane Dennis
09 Juillet 2005 - 1:21AM
PR Newswire (US)
Cingular Wireless Ready to Weather Hurricane Dennis Carrier
Provides Consumer Tips for Wireless Use Before, During and After
the Storm MOBILE, Ala., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- With forecasters
predicting Hurricane Dennis will reach landfall in the Gulf States
this weekend, Cingular Wireless -- the nation's largest wireless
network -- has taken numerous steps to weather the storm. The
National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Dennis is projected to
impact the Florida Keys, the west coast of Florida and make
landfall near Mobile by Sunday. "We were extraordinarily prepared
for the many hurricanes that hit the region last year, and our
network performed admirably," said Joe Larussa, VP/GM for
Cingular's Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana/Northwest Florida Region.
"With our acquisition of AT&T Wireless, our resources are even
greater. Our employees are committed to doing all that we can to
provide wireless communications at all times, especially during
times of need." The Cingular network is designed and built to
withstand hurricane-force winds. Additionally, the company has a
rigorous emergency preparedness and response process in place: -
Cingular's Regional Network Operations Center (RNOC) monitors and
maintains the network 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The
monitoring system allows Cingular to assess and handle any
emergency situation within minutes. - Cingular has secured and
prepared network staging areas in Mobile and New Orleans, where
additional emergency equipment and personnel can be quickly
deployed to impacted areas. Additional network personnel from other
states are ready to assist. - Cingular is in the process of
refueling all back-up generators and has readied another 200 that
are on stand-by for use during Dennis. Because electrical outages
are prevalent during storms, Cingular cell sites are backed up by
high-capacity batteries or emergency generators, ensuring a secure
source for power if needed. - Cingular has numerous self-contained
portable cell sites at emergency network facilities throughout the
region. Some are Cellular on Wheels, also known as "COWs;" other
are "COLTs," or Cellular on Light Trucks, which are smaller than
COWs. Both can be towed or driven into an area to provide extra
call capacity or to restore communications following a disaster. -
Cingular conducts ongoing readiness drills throughout the year to
ensure network facilities and personnel are ready-to-go at a
moment's notice. "Equally important, our employees are prepared to
help customers before, during and after these occurrences," added
Larussa. To help consumers understand what to expect when they use
their cell phones or other wireless devices during an emergency and
what they can do to prepare, Cingular offers these tips: Before
severe weather hits: - Program all emergency contact numbers into
your wireless phone. Store numbers for the police department, fire
station, hospital, as well as your family members so you don't have
to think about it during and after an emergency. - Have a family
communications plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as
a central contact, and make certain all family members know who to
contact if they become separated. - Keep your wireless phone
batteries charged at all times. Use your car charger to charge your
wireless phone when power is out, or pick up a disposable battery
that will give you an hour of talk time without any charging. -
Keep your wireless phone dry and protected. The biggest threat from
hurricanes is water versus wind damage so keep your equipment safe
from the elements by storing it in a plastic sandwich or freezer
bag. - Forward your home number to your wireless number in the
event of an evacuation. Since call forwarding is based out of the
telephone central office, you will get incoming calls from your
landline phone, even if your local telephone service is disrupted
at your home. In the unlikely event the central office is isolated,
call forwarding may not work. - Consider additional cell phones for
your family's use. If you want to add additional cell phones to
your wireless service, remember to do so prior to the emergency.
Staying in touch and maximizing your wireless service during and
after an emergency: - Try text messaging, or SMS (Short Messaging
Service). Most wireless phones today are text messaging capable,
and often times during an emergency situation such as a hurricane,
text messages will go through quicker than voice calls. More
importantly, using text messaging helps free up the voice lines for
emergency officials. - Use a landline phone if it is available. In
many instances, landline service may still be available in your
area so this still may be an option. - Keep non-emergency calls to
a minimum. Remember to limit your calls to the most important ones.
Chances are that if there is severe weather, many people will be
attempting to place wireless calls to loved ones, friends and
business associates. If the landline phones are not working, this
probability increases. - Wait 10 seconds before redialing a call.
On many wireless phones, to redial a number, you simply push "send"
after you've ended a call to redial the previous number. If you do
this too quickly, the data from the phone to the cell sites does
not have enough time to clear before you've resent the same data
and may contribute to network congestion. - Use your wireless phone
to access weather information. Many homes lose power during severe
weather. If you have a wireless phone that provides access to the
Internet, you can watch the Weather Channel through Cingular's
Mobi-TV service or through My-Cast Weather. - If you have a camera
phone, take, store and send photos of damaged property to your
insurance company from your device. About Cingular Wireless
Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United
States, serving 50.4 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture
between SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth
Corporation (NYSE:BLS), has the largest digital voice and data
network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM) network -- and the largest
mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier.
Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM),
the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly
minutes. Details of the company are available at
http://www.cingular.com/ . Get Cingular Wireless press releases
e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at
http://www.cingular.com/newsroom . DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless
CONTACT: Dawn Benton of Cingular Wireless, +1-404-236-5305,
Wireless, +1-404-202-6335, or , or Ken Keatley, +1-404-312-6426, or
, for Cingular Wireless Web site: http://www.cingular.com/
http://www.cingular.com/newsroom
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