Geek Cavalries Turn Post-Katrina Landscape into Wireless Lab

In Louisiana and Mississippi, Katrina initially knocked out 2.8 million phone lines, more than 1,600 cell phone towers and more than 420,000 cable TV connections that also can serve as Internet links, the Federal Communications Commission said. Just as Katrina proved the vulnerability of traditional telephone and cellular networks, it also showed how Internet-based technologies could be used to speedily re-establish links with the outside world. Teams from large companies, private groups and the military converged on the Gulf Coast in ad hoc fashion to set up wireless networks, all the while battling bureaucracies that didn't seem to understand the agility and flexibility of the technologies being marshaled. The spontaneous wireless projects by groups that simply wanted to help -- government mandate or not -- is spurring interest in how to deploy the latest in communications technology and expertise in a more organized fashion after future disasters.
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Matthew Fordahl]