Katrina Exposes Wireless Communication Failure

Katrina Exposes Wireless Communication Failure

If you lived through Hurricane like I did in Gulfport, Mississippi

You can appreciate the Federal Comunications Commission expressing the urgency that most cell-transmitter sites in the U.S. have at least eight hours of backup power when the main power fails.

Actually the regulators say in the event power fails, but it is not a matter of if but when. On the morning of Katrina, in was able to periodically reach neighbors who had left the area to communicate what was happening in our neighborhood and the progress of the storm since I had no outside communication.

Emergency crews fared no better than the victims and for many hours people were left without any ability to communicate

Thee argument of the industry is that backup power won't help if the towers are destroyed by wind or fire. Katrina certainly took down a lot of cell towers but the lost of power in a hurricane occurs long before any destruction of towers and in many cases the towers survived but they were useless without power.

Eight hours of backup is a minimum when destruction like Katrina hits. I have been in hurricanes much less damaging than Katrina and the power always goes out for several hours if not days. The backup would allow the Utility companies like Mississippi Power and Coast Electric sufficient time to get emergency crews to repair those lines first and keep first responders and residents connected with each other. Lives will depend on that backup and no cost is too much. In the same paper, I read the IRS is spending $42 million dollars to send 130 million households in the U.S a letter telling us we could qualify to receive a $600 rebate. I think most people in the U.S are aware of this fact and maybe theirs can lend some of that money to the FCC to help get this program going.