Last Updated on Friday, November 11, 2005
Verizon Wireless employees have invested hundreds of thousands of man-hours in preparing for and responding to Hurricane Wilma. Network preparations included:
- Fine-tuning the company's digital network across the state to add call capacity in threatened areas before the storm hit.
- Strategically positioning fleets of mobile generators and Cells on Wheels (COWS), self-powered mobile cell sites, that can be deployed immediately in any hard-hit areas that need extra network capacity.
- Pre-arranging fuel delivery to the mobile units and generators at permanent cell sites to keep the network operating even if power is lost for an extended period of time. Nearly 80 percent of the individual transmission sites operated by Verizon Wireless have their own on-site generators. This capability is critical when power goes out and if roads are impassable.
- Teams of "test men" from across the state have traveled in specially-equipped vehicles to test the network in the wake of Wilma.
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