*Update: includes quote from CTIA*
As an unusual 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit the U.S East Coast today, cell service providers grappled to deal with the demand on their networks.
Both Verizon and AT&T admitted outages caused by the volume of calls being made, while T-Mobile also said it was experiencing congestion.
“T-Mobile’s network is experiencing higher call volumes in all areas affected by the earthquake. We advise customers to use SMS or E-Mail,” said T-Mobile on Twitter.
“Seeing no reports of damage to our wireless network. There was some network congestion in the East after tremors. Continuing to monitor,” said Verizon Wireless.
“Customers in East may experience intermittent delay making/receiving calls after recent earthquake. This is a temporary mass calling event,” said Sprint adding, “To contact loved ones following earthquake, please use text msgs rather than call. Call delays due to temporary mass calling event.”
CTIA, the association which represents all of America’s carriers, also released a statement after the earthquake saying “The industry’s infrastructure appears to be intact, but because many wireless consumers are using the networks, we are experiencing higher than normal traffic. In these high volume instances, there can be delays. We encourage people to send text messages and emails to contact their loved ones until volume returns to normal.”
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T all saw their networks crumble under pressure as far away as NYC, where service was reportedly down in Manhattan, Mid-Town and other areas. All three carriers also had blackouts in Washington DC, the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, the blackouts don’t seem to have dampened the volume of tweets coming out of affected areas, with irate customers taking toTwitter to bash their carriers for seemingly being unable to cope with even a minor natural disaster.
“Maybe AT&T should have to be able to keep THEIR network up before buying somebody else too,” wrote one disgruntled customer.
“Small earthquake in DC. AT&T, sprint, Verizon networks overloaded. Preview of communications in a real emergency,” wrote another.
Some managed to retain their humor, however. “My AT&T phone seems to be working better than usual, then again…” joked a third Twitterer.
While the ground may have stopped moving for now, it’s clear carriers are going to have to reassess their emergency coverage capabilities going forward if they don’t want to shatter the trust of their customers going forward.
