Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Blackout Backlash Puts Wireless Industry On The Defensive

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 16:55:34 -0400

Blackout Backlash Puts Wireless Industry On The Defensive 

By Mark Rockwell
August 26, 2003

WASHINGTON

The public finger pointing has accelerated over the performance of wireless
networks during the blackout in the Northeast.

An exchange of letters in the last two days to newspapers and federal agencies
shows call-clogged wireless networks during the blackout have irritated lawmakers
in the affected area, as well as put wireless industry executives on the
defensive.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., yesterday fired off a letter to FCC Chairman Michael
Powell saying wireless carriers should upgrade their networks to better handle
emergency calls and power failures. Schumer told Powell call prioritization was a
must in such situations, with calls from public safety officials being the first
to get through. He also said carriers should be required to keep more generators
and batteries on hand at transmitter and tower sites to keep wireless networks up
during power outages.

CTIA's chief executive, Tom Wheeler, defended the wireless industry's performance
during the blackout in a letter to the editor in The New York Times today. CTIA
spokeswoman Kim Kuo said the letter was in response to the newspaper's coverage of
wireless network performance, and not directly in response to Schumer's letter.
She said CTIA would respond to that later, however.
 
In his letter, Wheeler blamed call volume for the incomplete calls and long waits
for connections for wireless customers. "On the afternoon of the blackout,
wireless networks, like Manhattan's roadways, were clogged as everyone tried to
dial simultaneously. Yet wireless networks survived the initial spike in traffic,"
Wheeler said in the letter.

"Hours later, cell sites began to go off line as batteries drained. Technicians
scrambled to add auxiliary power. By Friday at noon, 80 percent of the wireless
antennas in the affected areas were operational, and where sites remained off
line, others were re-tuned and redirected to make up for the losses," he added.

"Virtually all transmitter sites have backup power and, where feasible, permanent
generators," he said, adding wireless carriers warehouse portable generators and
extended battery supplies.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=document&doc_id=125283&verticalID=34&vertical=Business+and+Finance&industry=

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/