Few cellphones lost service during Hurricane Matthew

Having a working phone during a hurricane may be as vital as having electricity — and the big three cellular carriers said their networks delivered by keeping nearly all its customers along Florida's Treasure Coast connected as Hurricane Matthew churned north on Oct 6.

AT&T Wireless, Sprint and Verizon executives said most of their customers remained connected before, during and after Hurricane Matthew, and their networks performed well. Sprint reported having issues at one St. Lucie County (FL) cell site, which was blamed on a power outage, said company spokeswoman Roni Singleton. “Service should be essentially normal for our customers in the area,” Singleton said. Well ahead of the storm, cell companies rolled out emergency action plans to remain operational, which for Sprint included fueling permanent generators and mobilizing portable generators into threatened areas. Verizon had backup batteries at cell sites and switching centers that kept the network running and customers connected when commercial power failed, spokeswoman Karen Schulz said. AT&T and Verizon also waived data overage charges for talk and text services from Oct 7 to 11.