Those who went through Charley or Frances - PLEASE HELP!

[hurrgrl]

hey guys. i need to know if after charley or frances, could you still use your cell phones? i just left my parents at their house on the water, but i am freaking out because i dont know how long it will be before i can get back there, so i am really relying on cell phones to communicate with them. please help! thanks!
ps - we are in mobile, al....didnt know if that would make a difference or not considering they are saying that ivan will directly hit here

[Josephine96]

After Charley.. I heard people couldn't use their phones for days because towers got messed up..

You MAY be able too.. But.. don't count on it entirely..

[mascpa]

Could not use my cell phone from my house on Sunday morning after Frances had passed. Cell phones are worthless if the towers are no longer standing.

[Chuck Waters]

hey guys. i need to know if after charley or frances, could you still use your cell phones? i just left my parents at their house on the water, but i am freaking out because i dont know how long it will be before i can get back there, so i am really relying on cell phones to communicate with them. please help! thanks!
ps - we are in mobile, al....didnt know if that would make a difference or not considering they are saying that ivan will directly hit here

Here in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area (Brevard County Florida), my cell phone service stays on pretty well. There were congestion problems right after the storm, but as life started returning to normal, those problems died down.

I think Ivan is a bigger storm than Frances in terms of wind speed, so I would assume that there might be more cell antenna damage than with Frances.

[gulfcoaster53]

I drove down to Punta Gorda 24hrs after Charley. Cell phones didn't work in a 25 mile radius. Most of the towers are run with a generator backup, but wind damage will be unavoidable near landfall. Also depends on the spacing of towers.

[Everglades]

Cellphones worked in Naples, FL. after Charley. Strangely, we lost them for a couple of hours during Frances which was nowhere near as strong as Charley here.

make sure to get a full charge on the phones before the power goes out.

[simplyme]

I live in Palm Beach Gardens and evacuated South during Frances... when driving back home, signal was spotty, and while at home, was non-existant for several days. Expect cell towers to take a hit, they're high up and it's sensitive equipment. On the plus side, they also seem to be one of the first things fixed. So, have a car charger ready (in case your power goes out), and if you can, drive around a little bit if you don't have service where you're staying.

I'm not sure about this, but Nextel with the CB radio portion, might work better then regular cell phones... not sure how that signal works in comparison to other cell phones. I have Sprint PCS, and they initially had about 200 towers out of commission, but were getting about 50 towers back up a day after the Frances.

[bocaboater3]

I was in Punta Gorda during Charly. AT&T cell phone worked through out. I was in Boca Raton for Frances and it worked there as well.

[Windy]

Jeeze -- they're in a house on the water?!?!! Wtiha 15-20ft storm surge coming?!?! WTF are they thinking? Do they WANT to die?!

If you love them, hit them over the head with something and drag them further inland! Not many houses will stand up to a 15 foot wall of water, followed by a few hours of 15 foot waves!

[Canelaw99]

As for the Nextel radio - they tend to work really well when cell calls won't go through. The day or two before Frances, my hubby and I weren't able to receive or make actual calls well on our cells because the lines were so busy, but were able to get through on the direct connect immediately.

[Cookiely]

Dead people can't talk on the phone.

[rlar798]

I was able to use my cell phone within a hour or so of the storm passing. It took a long time for calls to go through but they eventually did. A friend of mine had an ATT phone and it worked well almost immediately after the storm.

[donsutherland1]

It will depend on where the cell phone towers are located. Loss of some of those towers combined with higher-than-normal call volume could lead to disruptions.

I very much hope all turns out all right for your parents and home. They and all those in line for Ivan's wrath will be in my thoughts.

[jlauderdal]

hey guys. i need to know if after charley or frances, could you still use your cell phones? i just left my parents at their house on the water, but i am freaking out because i dont know how long it will be before i can get back there, so i am really relying on cell phones to communicate with them. please help! thanks!
ps - we are in mobile, al....didnt know if that would make a difference or not considering they are saying that ivan will directly hit here

couldnt use my cell phone after frances for two days

[Tracie]

In Orlando, it was very difficult to get a signal or connect a call for a few days (even if it appeared that you had a signal) -- if you did get out, usually you would get the dreaded "Circuits are busy" message.

They made it clear to try to leave cell phone usage to a minimum so that emergency crews could communicate..

Also, in Tampa during Frances, Sprint lost all cell service in several counties due to some of their equipment getting damaged.

[sfwx]

Nextel was awful during Frances. I lost Sprint service for 2 days, but I also have analog service which was very helpful.

Eric

[simplyme]

donsutherland1 makes a good point. After the storm there will be a large volume of calls on the network, and you'll likely be frustrated with the number of "busy" signals you get due to the network having a higher volume then it can accomodate. Be patient, and hang in there...

Good luck to you and your family!

[zimmerm]

I live in orlando, and during both of the storms, was able to use mine just fine. Had to dial a few times, because the lines were jammed, but did eventually get thru.

The local tv stations were "advising" to try to stay off of them as to not jam the lines so emergency officials and the power crews would be able to use them with no problems.

[MBryant]

Simply put, cell phones are like cordless phones...it only works while the base is working. The towers have backups for loss of power, but can be damaged like any other structure. Oddly enough, it may be more likely for a cell phone to work in a populated area since there are many more cell towers at much lower heights so a better chance of one surviving the storm.

Please be aware that your cordless phones will NOT work when the electricity goes out so having at least one corded phone should be a part of storm preparation.

[WHhurricaneh8ter]

I have Alltel and it worked pretty well through both. I know that most Nextel calls wouldn't go through after Charley, but the radio part worked fine.