Mobile networks almost back to pre-Hurricane Sandy reliability
Cellular coverage for some carriers approached normal levels in the northeastern U.S. a week after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, but some areas remained cut off from mobile service because of ongoing power and telecommunications outages.
Verizon Wireless said on Monday that 99 percent of its cell towers in the Northeast were online, up from 97 percent on Friday, while AT&T reported that more than 98 percent of its cell sites were operating. New York City and New Jersey remain the epicenter of cellular woes, though carriers continued to improve coverage there. AT&T said 95 percent of its sites in the city were up and running.
Flickr: NCDOT Communications
T-Mobile USA said on Sunday that it had restored service to almost 95 percent of the city and was still sending generators to cell sites in New Jersey that it could reach. Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel said its network was 85 percent operational in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but had been fully restored in several other states.
Carriers made progress over the weekend through around-the-clock work and the deployment of portable cell sites and generators. AT&T said it had rolled out more than 3,000 generators to power wireless and wireline facilities and used more than 70 fuel trucks to keep generators and service trucks operating. A network-sharing arrangement between AT&T and T-Mobile in parts of New York and New Jersey is still in effect.
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