wireless

Verizon Wireless said Thursday that it is helping Hurricane Sandy victims in New York and New Jersey who have lost power stay in touch with loved ones.

The company has deployed Wireless Emergency Communication Centers, or WECCs on Staten Island, New York, at Monmouth University in New Jersey, and at two locations in Toms River, N.J. These stations will provide public access to device charging and will also offer computer work stations. There will also be wireless phones and other devices available for visitors to use in order to contact family and friends.

Verizon is also providing mobile stores-on-wheels … Read more

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says help from AT&T is on the way for wireless customers stranded without cell service following Superstorm Sandy.

During a press conference today, the mayor said that he had met with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who promised that AT&T would be getting service back to normal for the millions of AT&T wireless customers in New York City who have been affected by the hurricane that hit in full force Monday evening.

Specifically, Bloomberg said that AT&T will be bringing in trucks that will have … Read more

AT&T on Thursday announced a new service it calls AT&T Locker that will allow AT&T iPhone and Android smartphone customers to store 5GB worth of videos and photos for free in AT&T's "cloud."

The service is available through a free app in the Apple App Store or the Google Play store. And it allows users to store roughly 5,000 average sized photos in the cloud. The app requires subscribers use either an iPhone 3GS or newer device. And Android users must be on version 2.1 or higher … Read more

Federal Communications Commission officials said today that wireless and wireline communications services have improved following Hurricane Sandy.

"Overall, the condition of our communications networks is improving," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. "But serious outages remain, particularly in New York, New Jersey, and other hard-hit areas."

The storm, which is affecting several states on the East Coast from Virginia to Maine and westward as far as Michigan, has wreaked havoc on the communications network. Yesterday, officials said that they expected service to degrade before it got better. But today the agency said it's … Read more

Relief is coming for wireless customers who have suffered with poor service in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

AT&T and T-Mobile USA today announced that they entered into an agreement to enable roaming on their networks to customers of both companies in areas most affected by the hurricane and where capacity is available from one carrier or the other.

AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to place calls just as they do normally. But the calls will be carried over whichever network is up and running in their area. The roaming will be seamless to … Read more

Comcast said today that it will allow anyone regardless of whether they are a customer or not to access its Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in several states hit by megastorm Sandy.

The cable operator, which with its cable partners operates 50,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in public places throughout country, said that it would make its hot spots available to anyone who needs them regardless of whether or not users are Comcast customers. (This service is typically password-protected and available only to Comcast or its partners' broadband customers.) The states where Comcast is offering the service include: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, … Read more

Hurricane Sandy has affected millions of people up and down the East Coast. Now the storm, which was downgraded just before landfall Monday night in New Jersey, has moved westward to wreak further havoc on communications networks in its path.

Because I have been getting so many questions from friends, family and readers about what is going on with the wireless networks in these areas, I put together this Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ for my Ask Maggie readers. If you have additional questions, please send them my way, and I will try to answer them. Also, if you want … Read more

Cellphone service in superstorm Sandy's path is likely to get worse before it gets better, the Federal Communications Commission said today.

"This was and still is a devastating storm with a serious impact on our nation's communications infrastructure," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said during a conference call with press this afternoon. "The storm is not over. And our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile networks because of the flooding and loss of power."

Genachowski said that as of 10 a.m. ET today, 25 percent … Read more

Residents in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy all up and down the East Coast awoke this morning to downed trees, flooding, and in some cases, no wireless, Internet, or home phone service.

Areas around New York City seemed to be most affected with millions of residents throughout the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut without power.

All four of the major cell phone companies said subscribers in patches of their territories hit by the hurricane have been experiencing outages. In New York City, residents in downtown Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens complained that AT&T'… Read more