Post-storm cell phone service good

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE)--At one point, more than 100,000 customers across northeast Indiana were without power after the June 29 storm.  Many cell phone towers weren’t immune to the power loses.  But an infrastructure came into play that ensured communication despite no power.

Power outages have kept wireless stores like the Verizon near Lima and Coliseum busy.

“The biggest need has been charging solutions.  We have portable battery chargers.  We have car chargers,  That way if your home powers out, you can still get that charge in your car,” said Remy Coles, Verizon retail store manager.  “Obviously with the cell phone being battery powered as an alternative for communication, it's a key priority.”

Without power, the mobile companies' key to providing service lies in the backup plan.  Verizon towers rely on a battery backup, then generator assistance.  15 of its cell sites had to rely on that backup Friday. 

“We have that battery source for eight hours and once that battery source depletes, we then can back up onto that generator which has an addition 72 hours to add on to that power,” Coles said.

There's also overlap in the network and cell towers on wheels that can be deployed if the power loss goes past 80 hours.  That’s a big reason that Verizon said it hasn’t had any interrupted service despite the multi-state devastation caused by the June 29 storm.

Some Sprint customers had a brief service interruption during the storm.

AT&T released this statement to NewsChannel 15:

The damaging storms that swept through Indiana temporarily impacted portions of our wireless network. We responded rapidly, mobilizing AT&T technicians who worked throughout the weekend to deploy generators and repair storm-damaged facilities.  We apologize for any inconvenience that any of our customers may have experienced.