Wednesday, September 11, 2013

AT&T And T-Mobile Team For Sandy Victims To Communicate

By Cornelius Nunev


The Federal Communications Commission claims that, in the 10 states hit by Sandy, about a quarter of all cell towers are down. That makes for crowded networks and dropped calls. However, rivals AT&T and T-Mobile are putting aside their difference for a time to combine networks and help sufferers in New Jersey and New York City to connect.

AT&T and T-Mobile join forces

Since Sandy struck, many have had trouble getting a cellular connection in the areas hit by the "super storm." The networks have been congested and land lines have been down entirely. Would-be callers in the impacted regions are plagued with "all circuits are busy" messages.

T-Mobile pointed out that in New York City, 20 percent of the network was down, which is not so good news in a city that big.

In order to help the sufferers of Sandy, AT&T and T-Mobile are combining efforts and sharing 3G networks and GSM networks. They will not charge any roaming fees or change service agreements to do this.

The companies both use UMTS and GSM standards, meaning they can share networks since they are compatible.

Just make the call

No matter which carrier you are using, the network that is the least congested will take the call at that time. AT&T and T-Mobile suggest that users do nothing out of the ordinary and make calls like normal.

More serious before it gets much better

Although the deal is a temporary one, there is no telling how long it may continue. The ongoing inclement weather makes the job of getting those communications towers back up all the more slow and hard.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski explained:

"Our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile."

Backup generators may not last long enough while operating cell towers until power is restored. Nobody knows when the power will come back on.

Just advertising a brand

AT&T and T-Mobile are both doing something that is really good for the area, but they are probably doing it for selfish reasons also. There is a good chance they both just want to advertising.




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