Cellphones and the Mid-Atlantic quake of 2011

[mtnbkr]

One of the "features" of the recent quake was a temporary outage of the cellphone network.  My wife and I only have cellphones and no landline.  Right after the quake, I tried to call her to make sure she was ok.  Of course, I couldn't get through (uh oh, here's the fallout from my shortsighted plan).  I was able to send a text.  I tried calling her from my office phone and got right through to her (odd since she was actually closer to the quake, but in a lower density area phone-wise).  Next, I tried calling my mom to let her know we were ok in case the news hit her before we spoke (she's in 'Bama).  No voice capability, but I sent her a text.  She called me back immediately.  I also got an incoming call from Mike during all this.  By the time I got home less than an hour later, the phones were back to normal.

The press keeps harping on this as if it were a huge and long-lived outage, but it didn't last more than an hour for me.  Ten years ago, during 9/11, my LANDLINE phone was unusable for just about the entire day.  Right after it was clear we were under attack, I was able to call my wife, then not again.  From home, we couldn't use the landline phone until much later that afternoon.

Granted, 9/11 was a much bigger event, but I think the cell network handled the more recent event just fine.  That I was unable to make a voice call for an hour, but could send texts was the extent of it.  I couldn't even send a text during 9/11 (no cellphone back then).

FWIW, my ham radio gear worked just fine during the quake aftermath and apparently worked find during 9/11 according to folks licensed at the time.

Chris

[Scout26]

From my understanding it wasn't that the quake itself that caused the problem, it was everyone trying to call someone else at precisely the same time (the minutes after the quake) that was the problem.  There were simply too many calls for the system to handle simultaneously.

[makattak]

From my understanding it wasn't that the quake itself that caused the problem, it was everyone trying to call someone else at precisely the same time (the minutes after the quake) that was the problem.  There were simply too many calls for the system to handle simultaneously.

Which is why I didn't bother with calling and only sent texts. They went through.

[Jamisjockey]

Which is why I didn't bother with calling and only sent texts. They went through.

Some phones have a feature where you can even have it queue your texts and send them when you've got a signal.  Defintely ups the ante for keeping in touch with family and friends in an emergency.

[mtnbkr]

From my understanding it wasn't that the quake itself that caused the problem, it was everyone trying to call someone else at precisely the same time (the minutes after the quake) that was the problem.  There were simply too many calls for the system to handle simultaneously.

That's exactly what happened.  I apologize if I insinuated otherwise.

Some phones have a feature where you can even have it queue your texts and send them when you've got a signal.  Defintely ups the ante for keeping in touch with family and friends in an emergency.

I believe that's a standard feature these days.

Chris

[Regolith]

I believe that's a standard feature these days.

Chris

That's my understanding, too.  It's done automatically.

I've taken advantage of that system on road trips that go into areas that have very spotty cell coverage.

[Hutch]

Cellphones just won't serve for real-time comms during a generalized emergency.  Wouldn't be without one, but don't depend on them for close coordination during a real hootenany.

JMHO

[BlueStarLizzard]

I think the bigger consern (around here) was 911 was out. They made announcements to not use cell phones because LEO/fire/rescue needed the space.

I wonder if the failure was more from those folks having to use it then just people calling everyone.

[RoadKingLarry]

There was a lot of physical communications infrastructure backbone located in the twin towers.
The outages after the quake was due almost entirely to overload.

[birdman]

The "outage" (lack of bandwidth in this case) was more apparent due to a few things:
Mobile smartphone use is 50-60x greater than even 3-4 years ago, due to streaming media and social networking.  When something happens, everyone either tries to call, or tweets/facebooks what happened, while checking media outlets, all on the same system, so it gets clogged, fast.  Also, under certain conditions, (emergencies) bandwidth is reserved for emergency usage, so that reduces the available pool.  As mobile Internet usage becomes more and more widespread, the peak usage in these types of times will become even greater.  Text (SMS) has been, and will continue to be the most reliable cell-phone based communication method (and is recommended as such by those who know) as it's bandwidth requirements are extremely low, and the protocols used can easily find the necessary slot to send the small (<1k) datagram.  I was able to try this first hand during the "earthquake", all of my texts went through with little to no delay (on two different provider networks) but mobile Internet and phone were both unavailable.

[mtnbkr]

Cellphones just won't serve for real-time comms during a generalized emergency.  Wouldn't be without one, but don't depend on them for close coordination during a real hootenany.

JMHO

Two Words: Amateur Radio

Three more words: Message Handling Nets

I wouldn't want to rely on the landlines phones during a serious event either.

Chris

[birdman]

Iridium also is quite reliable, due primarily to it's lack of usage and dominant use by govt and first responders.

[GigaBuist]

What about Skype as a backup plan?  You need a reliable data internet connection at home to use it, but you can load up a few credits and make calls for 2-3 cents a minute.  Drop $10 on the account and you can make quite a number of outgoing calls if you barely use it.

Or just go w/ the $2.99/mo unlimited calling plan.  I use the snot out of it at the office.

[K Frame]

I also texted you, which went through before I was able to get through on the phone.

On 9/11 I don't recall having any problems with my land lines until I got to my office.

I was on the phone with my friend David when the second plane hit, and made a bunch of calls after that.

When I got to the office, though, that's when things were starting to be overwhelmed.

[RoadKingLarry]

Skype might be OK as long as you have power and can maintian it, the ISP/telco has power and can maintain it and none of the physical communications infrastructure is damaged.
Doesn't matter too much who you are getting your internet service from the vast majority of it goes back through what ever local telephone company services your area, even the cable ISPs get routed over the big boys backbone at some point.

Do not put your faith in the stability of the internet or cell network in the event of a major disaster.