Verizon and NORAD Team Up to Track Santa’s Worldwide Christmas Eve Journey
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A whopping 7,281,439,471 presents were delivered on Christmas Eve, as children around the globe followed Santa’s worldwide Christmas Eve journey, compliments of the North American Aerospace Command, Verizon and the rest of the NORAD Tracks Santa team.
For the 12th consecutive year, Verizon employees and their families joined more than 1,250 Christmas Eve volunteers — including military personnel, family members and friends, and other corporate contributors — in answering phone calls and emails to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline and operations center. Verizon provides the toll-free hotline and call-handling capabilities, as well as its 4G LTE wireless network to help volunteers answer phone calls to the hotline, respond to emails, download apps and track Santa’s progress. Children around the world have multiple ways to track Santa’s Christmas Eve journey.
- Phone: The toll-free hotline — 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) — will be in operation from 4 a.m. on Dec. 24 until 3 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time) on Dec. 25. (Callers outside North America can reach the hotline by dialing the local Colorado Springs number at 719-556-5211 using the applicable country code. International calling charges may apply.)
- Email: Starting on Dec. 24, children can send an email to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com to find Santa’s whereabouts.
- Web: Beginning at 12:01 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, children can visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website to see real-time information, including radar maps and streaming “SantaCam” video. Information will be available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese.
- Mobile and Social: For children (and adults) who are tech savvy, a free downloadable NORAD Tracks Santa mobile app (iOS, Android, Windows) is available. Santa can also be tracked via Facebook, Google+, Twitter (@noradsanta) and YouTube.
Last year, more than 117,000 phone calls and over 9,600 emails were received and answered. The NORAD Tracks Santa website had nearly 20.5 million unique visitors from 234 countries and territories during December 2013. NORAD, the binational U.S./Canadian military organization responsible for defending the aerospace of both countries, has tracked Santa for the past 58 years. The NORAD Tracks Santa tradition began in 1955 after a misprinted advertisement directed children to call the Continental Air Defense Command (NORAD’s predecessor organization) instead of a retailer’s special Santa hotline. Visit NORAD's YouTube page to learn how the NORAD Tracks Santa phenomenon began, and check out NORAD Tracks Santa for a history of the program and the technology used to track Santa Claus.
