F.C.C. Seeks Ways to Keep Phones Alive in a Storm - NYTimes.com

Three months after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast, the federal government is trying to determine how to keep cellphone and Internet services running in another natural disaster.

The Federal Communications Commission met with representatives of phone carriers, public utilities and city governments in New York on Tuesday to discuss what happened to broadband and cell services during Hurricane Sandy and how to make sure the widespread disruptions do not happen again.

In late October, the hurricane knocked out electricity in several cities, causing service failures for all of the big cellphone networks in the Northeast.

About a quarter of the cell towers were not working at some point after the storm. Many towers had no power and their backup battery systems were soon exhausted. Carriers used generators for power, but eventually those required more fuel ? another limited resource.

It took several days for the carriers to restore most of their service; in some cities, cell towers are still not working.

Julius Genachowski, chairman of the F.C.C., said at the hearing that the storm revealed how important mobile devices and Internet connections had become. ?They connect us to family, work and emergency services,? Mr. Genachowski said. ?And we sure notice when we can?t get through on our phones or connect to the Internet or get TV or radio news.?

At the meeting on Tuesday, the commissioners asked what could be done to prevent network failures and to speed restoration of service and how to make networks more resilient.

A crucial issue brought up was the inability to communicate with the carriers. Jack Schnirman, city manager of Long Beach, N.Y., said that after wireless service went down in his city, it was easy to contact government officials using radio devices but impossible to contact a phone carrier.

?The lack of communication and response from service providers was extremely disconcerting,? Mr. Schnirman said. ?All cell towers were down and no service providers were around.?

He also said that after the storm, he did not see any of the trucks that act as temporary cell towers during emergency situations.

James J. Gerace, Verizon?s head of government and external affairs, said the company had an account manager working with Long Beach, and perhaps that person had not reached Mr. Schnirman. He did not address how one would go about reaching a Verizon representative in the middle of a storm. He also said the company had taken five days to deploy cell trucks there because it had to wait for streets to open so they could enter the area.

Parts of the meeting discussed potential solutions for the loss of power. Rahul N. Merchant, New York City?s chief information and innovation officer, said longer-lasting batteries would be helpful for carriers. The backup batteries the carriers now use last eight hours.

But after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the F.C.C. recommended that carriers install backup batteries that last 24 hours. The carriers objected, presumably because they did not want to spend the money.

At Tuesday?s hearing, commissioners noted that some cities? zoning policies did not give cell sites enough room for bigger backup batteries. They said the federal government would need to collaborate better with local governments to revise zoning restrictions.

Other ideas brought up in the meeting included the use of femtocells, which are essentially miniature cell towers that people can install in their homes, to serve as backup cell towers. The carriers are also working with the F.C.C. on a program in which cellphone owners would be encouraged to text a message to 911 instead of calling on a cellphone because texting is more reliable and uses less energy.

Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/f-c-c-revisits-communications-failures-after-hurricane-sandy/

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