Pathetic service during Irene

[Owensw38]

I must say that if at&t's wireless performance does not  improve over what it was during Irene, I'm going to have to change characters. I was visiting friends in Arnould MD during the storm. We compared iPhone reception. They were running through Verizon while I used mine with at&t. Verizon presented with all 5 bars during the storm while my at&t machine was either searching or showing "no service". Not what I want in an emergency. At&t, you need to get your act and network together!!!! Just not acceptable!!!

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

---

Owensw38 wrote:

I must say that if at&t's wireless performance does not  improve over what it was during Irene, I'm going to have to change characters. I was visiting friends in Arnould MD during the storm. We compared iPhone reception. They were running through Verizon while I used mine with at&t. Verizon presented with all 5 bars during the storm while my at&t machine was either searching or showing "no service". Not what I want in an emergency. At&t, you need to get your act and network together!!!! Just not acceptable!!!

---

Do you really expect AT&T to fix the tower that was more than likely damaged during the storm as quick as a day or two? The tower(s) could take a few days to weeks to be replaced and fully operational again.

There could also be a chance that your friend's Verizon iPhone was showing full service because Verizon's towers were not damaged in the hurricane. You never know.

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

Consider yourself lucky to still be here a handful did not make it.  I am sure there are areas where ATT's towers are funcitoning and Verizon's did not.  Since you were able to post this comment, you at least have alternative means to get out a message to loved ones that you are OK!  I am sure that ATT wants those towers back up just a bad as you do......

[Owensw38]

Tho there was typically no service showing on my phone, the occasional single or double bar led me to believe that some level of service was still available, but that level of service was insufficient to provide phone support. To be fair, text messaging was available, but to contact emergency services, phone access would be required. I'd like to hear from at&t about this incident and what the inactivity might have been caused by.

[satchev]

---

Owensw38 wrote:

Tho there was typically no service showing on my phone, the occasional single or double bar led me to believe that some level of service was still available, but that level of service was insufficient to provide phone support. To be fair, text messaging was available, but to contact emergency services, phone access would be required. I'd like to hear from at&t about this incident and what the inactivity might have been caused by.

---

That's nice... but if you want to hear from AT&T you will need to contact them.  They rarely if ever respond here as this is a user to user support forum.

Frankly your initial posts screams of ignorance and arrogance.

It's a natural disaster... things happen.  There were 20+ lives lost during the storm and countless others injured... yet you feel the need to come here and gripe about not having cell coverage... get a grip on reality.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

---

Owensw38 wrote:

Tho there was typically no service showing on my phone, the occasional single or double bar led me to believe that some level of service was still available, but that level of service was insufficient to provide phone support. To be fair, text messaging was available, but to contact emergency services, phone access would be required. I'd like to hear from at&t about this incident and what the inactivity might have been caused by.

---

Wireless service in a natural disaster is more then likely the first thing that goes down, towers that where destroyed back in May in the midwest are still not fully functional.

Things happen in a natural disaster, nothing you can do about it - no one promises service in that case. Also relemebr in the case of a natural disaster priority service is switched to the first responders.  POTS line in areas where the lines are buried have the best chance of surviving, but they CO's can stil be overloaded and serivce priority is still switched to first responders.

If the hurricane, tornado or tsumani takes down the towers in your areas, serivce is going to be affected - you can;t chance the laws of physics and destruction

[whitetigergrowl]

Yeah the original complaint makes zero sense. No logic was even used.

In your area an ATT tower or antenna may have been damaged and just a town over Verizons service could have been out and ATT's was fine. You should have seen all the Twitter feeds of people on Verizon complaining and people with AT&T were fine.

Many times during events like Irene the problems are localized and not indicative of how good or bad a network is. If a storm damages a Verizon tower and your Verizon service goes out and it takes a few days to get it fixed but ATT's is fine, does that mean Verizon sucks?

Common Sense. Of course your friends Verizon phone is going to work fine if the Verizon tower wasn't damaged. Just like someone elses AT&T phone will work fine if Verizon or another carriers tower is damaged and AT&T's wasn't. It's luck of the draw most of the time in cases like this and has zero to do with the network itself. It's almost like there is a sense of ignorance to the original post. So if you switch carriers and a storm happens that takes out a Verizon tower and your phone is searching for service while a competitors phone is working fine, remember that it just isn't acceptable and you should switch carriers again. If that's the case you'll be switching carriers A LOT.

[mikewho]

from my experience whenever i switched carriers i always just hurt myself. All it got me was a big first bill with prorated charges and the service was very similar.

[insanesugarpain]

I'll never understand people who assume wireless technology should work during a natural disaster. It's wireless, with signals bouncing through the air. It's not guaranteed to work during inclement weather. This is why wired technology is advised for such events.

[Javeon]

During Katrina, I had bars on T-Mobile but the actual network did not work because what little few was available were congested.  Text messages did go through though.  In emergencies, the last thing I want to do is be around someone who wants to be on their phone.