Telecom service improves in Sandy hit areas, challenges remain

Telecom companies continued to show improvement in their services over the weekend in areas hit by Hurricane Sandy, but challenges remain in some pockets of the hardest-hit spots. Some outages continue as the restoration of commercial power hasn't yet occurred in some areas and infrastructure damage poses hurdles to repairing damaged or unconnected equipment.

The wireless carriers are generally providing public charging stations and other resources; many have provided flexibility for customers to delay paying their bills without risk of a service disconnection. Cellular networks are a collection of individual sites that connect wireless devices to a core, wired network, but they also require power to function. While backup generators and batteries provide some cushion, obtaining fuel and gaining access to the cell sites themselves can make it harder to keep power flowing. Restoring power will help the situation, but some sites are also down because they have no connection to the core network or because equipment is damaged. The wireless carriers have had technicians working on the problems around the clock. Verizon Wireless said 98.1% of its cell sites are working in the area impacted by Sandy.