Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Knocked Out In Florida Again! Timmy Can You Hear Me Now???

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 11:25:06 -0400

Nextel Knocked Out In Florida Again! Timmy Can You Hear Me Now???
Cut cable creates cell phone black out in Naples

Friday, April 18, 2003

By DENISE ZOLDAN, [email-masked]

Just about no one could hear anyone Thursday in Collier County on their
cell
phones.

And "Can you hear me now?" couldn't even be asked.

Excavators in Lehigh Acres smashed a fiber optic cable that knocked cell

phones off the hook across the county from midmorning till late
afternoon, in
some cases even longer.

Minor interruptions occurred in Lee County too, said Jason Duff, a
Sprint
spokesman, who could not estimate the scope of the impact on customers.

"It's affecting a pretty large area and a number of customers," Duff
said.

The temporary loss of the Sprint cable cut the company's capacity in
half.

Because Sprint leases space on its cable to ATT wireless, Nextel,
Verizon,
and other wireless providers, when the miscreant heavy equipment users
shattered the glass cable, the wireless bridge that provides cell phone
use to
Naples collapsed like a house of cards.

Most people do not realize that wireless phone service relies on land
lines,
Duff said. When a cell phone is dialed, the signal travels to the
nearest
accessible cell tower, then to the land line. If the land line is out,
so is service.

Even a cell phone-to-cell phone call travels from a cell tower to the
land line
and back to a cell tower.

Addicted cell phone users jammed local land lines Thursday, attempting
to
find out what the problem was with their phones.

Jenny Martin, manager of the ATT wireless office in North Naples, said
customers were bombarding her office with calls.

"We're all being affected by this," Martin said.

Duff said long distance in Naples also was affected. But 911 and local
service
remained intact.

The excavaters had called Sprint to find out beforehand where the cable
was
located and were attempting to work around it when the equipment
accidentally bumped the cable.

"They were trying to work around it," Duff said.

http://www.naplesnews.com/03/04/naples/d930944a.htm

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