Communications Systems Damaged by Gustav But Hold Up Well

“It hasn’t been anything close to Katrina,” said a wireless industry source. “We have all gone through additional planning and work on restoration since Katrina. Carriers were better prepared and I think the scale of Katrina was just unprecedented.” Problems from that hurricane were the focus of a five-month investigation by a special panel and many actions by the FCC.

The FCC said Tuesday that most broadcasters remain on the air. “There are some issues being addressed due to power outages related to cell towers and network coverage,” a commission spokeswoman said. “Wireless carriers are working diligently with federal and state officials to begin addressing those outages as best they can, given specific regions in Louisiana are experiencing flooding.”

An AT&T spokeswoman said the carrier was still assessing damage to its landline and wireless facilities, but they seem to have held up well. She said AT&T has mobilized 2,000 employees from other states to help restore service in Louisiana and other Gulf Coast areas. She said Louisiana was the main focus of AT&T recovery efforts. “There continue to be some service outages in hard-hit areas of Louisiana and our crews are working around the clock to repair damage and reroute traffic.” She said restoration efforts are dependent on electric utilities clearing away downed power lines. She said most AT&T cell sites in the areas affected have remained in service.

AT&T offered 2,000 GoPhone wireless handsets with $15 worth of free airtime to people displaced to Houston and San Antonio by mandatory Louisiana evacuations. It also provided free Wi-Fi throughout the affected areas. Verizon Wireless said 99 percent of its Gulf Coast cell sites stayed in service, despite Gustav’s fury. The handful that went down did so mainly because of power outages, rather than destruction of towers, a spokesman said. Sprint Nextel said its towers and connecting lines weathered the storm well, but power was a critical issue. A spokesman said the company was awaiting safety clearance so crews could get in to bring blacked-out cell sites back on line. T-Mobile said it lost service in parts of south-central Louisiana, mainly due to disruption of commercial electric power. Utilities reported about 1.2 million households and businesses along the Gulf Coast lost electric power because of Gustav.

Cable companies with systems on the Gulf Coast credited improved emergency plans for their efficient responses to Gustav and ability to track employees, many of them forced to evacuate. The storm left customers in and around New Orleans without broadband, phone or video service because of power failures, said officials at Cox, Charter and Washington Post Co.’s Cable One.

Charter, Cox and Cable One had the most significant service failures among the major cable operators we surveyed with systems in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas hit by Gustav. Those three companies and Time Warner Cable reported no employee injuries, and they said crews had begun repairs or assessing damage. Mediacom had few details on its several Mississippi cable systems that were in the storm’s path, a spokesman said. A Comcast spokeswoman didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Most Cox customers are without power in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans, and about 80 percent aren’t getting cable service because of that, a spokesman said. Utility officials think they need seven to 10 days to restore all power, he said. “Cox will closely follow on the heels of the power company to restore our services,” the spokesman said. “Cox’s crisis plans have worked flawlessly.” The company has heard from more than 85 percent of its employees, none of whom are hurt, and it has “teams” from neighboring systems standing by to start repairs in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, he said. “Cox has refined and improved our efforts with real-world experience, most notably our recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan.”

Most of Charter’s approximately 150,000 subscribers in the New Orleans area lack power, affecting broadband, cable and phone service, a spokesman said. “We are just now beginning to assess damage” -- a difficult task, since many areas affected were “off limits” Tuesday, he added. Since the 2005 storms, the company has improved its emergency planning, “the most important feature” of which is that employees can stay in touch with each other, he said.

Cable One’s Mississippi coast operations seem not to have been damaged significantly by Gustav, said Jim Hannan, vice president of engineering. But some towns are without power, he added. “The biggest story is power problems that are inland a little bit,” said Hannan. “Our damages are pretty minimal.” The company prepared by equipping technicians with laptops with wireless Internet access, giving them digital maps and detours around blocked roads, said Hannan. Those efforts “all paid off,” he said.

Time Warner Cable has a “better check-list” for emergency readiness, such as getting lodging for crews from outside the area, said Susan Patten, vice president of government and public affairs in Flower Mound, Texas. “We didn’t have any damage,” she said, citing “tiny little spot outages” of service that were power related. “We were extremely lucky,”

Iridium had record activations Friday in preparation for Gustav’s expected landfall over the weekend, a spokeswoman told us. Traffic on the Iridium network was higher Friday than during Katrina or the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she said. Iridium believes the increase was due to first responders testing their phones in preparation for Gustav, she said. The company asked all of its users in the Gulf Coast region to test their phones by dialing 00-1-480- 752-5105, she said. Iridium began reaching out to its customers early last week to make sure they were ready for Gustav, she said. The satellite phone company also sent out a list of trouble-shooting tips. For example, since Iridium has its own international calling code, users must dial as if they are making an international call, the spokeswoman said.

Globalstar didn’t have usage information immediately available. But a spokesman noted that since Katrina the company introduced its Spot simplex service that can be used to send canned messages such as Help. Spot also is connected to the GPS system so emergency assistance can be sent to a user’s location if needed, he said.

Satellite TV hookups are becoming key features of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Monday’s program featured satellite hookups from governors from the Gulf Coast. Tuesday’s program was hastily rearranged after President Bush, who went to Texas instead of Minnesota to be with emergency workers when Gustav hit, decided to address the gathering from the White House Tuesday night. “It takes a lot of logistical effort to move a President anywhere,” said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. “And thankfully, there’s technology that exists today that President Bush can give a satellite address that will be live for the people in the hall.”