T-Mobile’s Disaster Recovery Teams are Prepared to Keep Customers Connected
Charlotte, N.C. — Aug. 24, 2011
T-Mobile USA, Inc. is preparing for the potential impact of Hurricane Irene, which is tracking toward the Southeastern United States. Wireless network preparations are underway and T-Mobile has mobilized all necessary resources to restore service to affected customers and emergency first-responders if mobile services are impacted by the storm.
“T-Mobile has teams in place that are responsible for monitoring storms and weather patterns throughout the hurricane season. These teams will continue to support and assist any network restoration that is needed as soon as the hurricane passes,” said Michael Miess, vice president and general manager, Carolinas region, T-Mobile USA. “In addition, we maintain three geo-redundant Network Operations Centers (NOCs) spread across the country that monitor our network 24 hours a day to ensure a quick response to outages and emergency situations.”
T-Mobile is also prepared with local Command Centers established in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. These teams have been mobilized to provide an immediate response to network outages in any affected area. “We have an experienced team of network engineers and technicians prepared and on-site to ensure that our customer’s critical communications needs are met following any storm related outages,” said Miess.
T-Mobile is taking the following additional steps to prepare the company’s network for the storm:
- In the event of widespread power outages, T-Mobile has full access to supplies for cell sites and portable generators, company repair and transport vehicles and for other emergency circumstances.
- To further supplement the fixed and portable back-up generators in the Southeast T-Mobile currently has additional portable generators ready to be transported to impacted areas.
- Microwave radio equipment has been trucked into the region to facilitate data communication from the cell sites to T-Mobile's network switches, as backup, in the event telecommunications fixed-line service from the cell sites to the network switching center fails.
- T-Mobile has several Cells-On-Wheels (COWs) pre-staged in neighboring markets to move in and provide additional wireless communications capacity in the hardest-hit areas.
- T-Mobile will monitor evacuation efforts and routes, and will take steps to increase wireless capacity in those areas as customers move inland.
- The company also is coordinating recovery efforts with local, state and national officials.
T-Mobile Storm Preparation Customer Tips:
In order to better facilitate communication between families and loved ones, and to alleviate anticipated network congestion before, during and after any storm, T-Mobile recommends its customers follow these important tips:
- Use text messaging to communicate instead of voice calls. Text messaging has a greater success rate in getting through the network during high-usage periods versus voice calls.
- Keep your voice calls short in duration.
- Make sure your phone is fully charged prior to the storm. Consider obtaining a vehicle charger in the event of power loss.
- For T-Mobile Customer Care assistance, please visit http://my.t-mobile.com, call 611 from your T-Mobile handset, or dial 1-800-937-8997.
Lindsay Morio
T-Mobile USA Media Relations
425-383-4002
About T-Mobile USA, Inc.
Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG (OTCQX: DTEGY). By the end of the second quarter of 2011, approximately 128 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 33.6 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM and UMTS and additionally HSPA+ 21/HSPA+ 42. T-Mobile USA’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile USA among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit http://www.T-Mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG. For further information on Deutsche Telekom, please visit www.telekom.de/investor-relations.
T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network, including increased speeds, not available everywhere. For more information about T-Mobile’s 4G products and coverage, please visit https://www.t-mobile.com/webconnect.