via NANOG (Sean Donelan, 5 updates, this specific entry was loaded just over1,000 times on Sept 7th.)
Since the FCC no longer makes outage reports public, folks will have to obtain their information from other sources. [NB. The non-release of outage event data policy is one of those post-9/11 things. If you think that policy serves a public purpose, don't read wampum.]
The networks in Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Brevard counties appear to be the most impacted. Cellular had problems due to wireless sites being without power. The wireless industry brought in 500 new generators in advance of the hurricane, but needed to wait until the hurricane passed before sending them out to the cell sites. Miami and Orlando also have sites down due to power issues and connectivity to local carriers.
The various local access line providers in Florida, Florida has a lot of tiny LATAs and phone companies, report some access lines are down but haven't published any counts. Cable networks have the same issues with local cable service. No reports of damage to telephone central offices or cable headends.
Due to power outages and local access network problems, bank networks and cash machines are out of service in most of the affected counties.
No reports of problems to any NAPs, POPs, data centers or fiber trunks. They generally have permanent generators. So if you have local connectivity, Internet access is working. Streaming audio/video from Florida television and radio stations over the Internet did not have any problems.
Some WiFi providers are once again offering free WiFi service in the affected counties, if you can reach a working hotspot (with local power and local network connectivity).
Update: gas #1
> Any details on the status of natural gas lines in FL, and approximately
> how many facilities use such for generator power vs diesel?
Natural gas is available in most parts of Florida. Like most utilities, service continues until disrupted. Once disrupted, repairs follow the typical priority order (utility, emergency services, television/radio
stations, others). Natural gas pipelines require various compressor stations throughout the pipeline system.
The Florida governor has issued an order to regulate gas supplies in the state. It gives emergency workers, military operations and cleanup crews priority for the next 7 days. The Florida Highway Patrol will provide escorts for tanker truks. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is tasked with coordinating fuel distribution. The US Environmental Protection Agency has waved certain clean air fuel forumalation requirements to permit the use of fuel from other states.
Update #2
Sprint reports 15,000 customers affected in its service areas (generally central florida). Bell South reports 7596 trouble reports in in its service areas (generally eastern florida). I haven't seen any numbers from Verizon yet.
For comparison, after Hurricane Charley 250,000 Sprint customers were without service according to automated monitoring systems, and 25,000 Verizon customers were without service.
Wireless/Cellular (from Florida's EOC website)
Cingular: 93% of normal
AT&T(Ft. Lauderdale/Miami): 82%
AT&T(Ft. Myers): 97%
AT&T(Daytona Beach) 96%
AT&T(Polk): 97%
AT&T(West Palm Beach): 38%
Nextel: 85%
T-Mobile: 75%
Alltell: 96%
Sprint(Miami): 76%
Sprint(Orlando): 81%
Sprint(Jacksonville): 98%
Sprint(Tampa): 98%
Sprint(Ft. Myers): 98%
Verizon: 85%
Update #3:
The Florida State Emergency Response Team is no longer reporting carrier or county specific information about the impact of Hurricane Frances on the telecommunications infrastructure. Only summary information is being given out.
Wire Line: 205,564 customers OUT OF SERVICE in the areas impacted by Hurricane Frances
Wireless: Average of 70% customers WITH SERVICE in the areas impacted by Hurricane Frances
County and utility specific information about electric power is being released. 3,280,252 million customers are without power.
Due to a generator failure, 292 Sprint wireless towers in Polk, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Hardee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties were disrupted. There is no estimated time for restoration of power to the Sprint switch serving the towers.
Update #4:
Florida EOC reports 1.1 million wireline customer outages state-wide. 30% cell phone coverage outage reported. Coordinating communication set up for priority T1 lines, POTS, DSL etc.
Bellsouth: 775,000 customer outages statewide (13.1% without service)
Palm Beach, Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin Counties: (29.5%)
Orange, Brevard and Volusia Counties: (19.5%)
Plus other outages in various service areas
Sprint: 174,000 (central and southern Florida)
Verizon: 8,100
Adelphia Cable: evaluating damage
Comcast TV Cable: evaluating damage
Update #5:
> For that many towers to have power generator issues makes you wonder if
> they had power generators to begin w/. Maybe they just had a few hours
> worth of UPS power or something.
The FCC is no longer releasing outage reports from the carriers, so this is based on information from the local newspapers.
Generally large numbers of cellular towers in a region are fed from a central switch. If the central switch looses power, then all the towers connected to that switch loose service. In this case, the backup generator for the central switched failed. The switch was on battery backup until 9pm, but when it became apparent that neither the utility power nor the generator would be restored soon, Sprint shutoff the switch to prevent damage from low battery voltage. This will speed the restoration effort when utility power or the generator is finally fixed because the switch will not have been damaged..
Last I read, the Florida East Coast still has almost 500,000 people without power. That's a long time to be without basic electricity in Florida's late summer heat.
Posted by: Steve Plonk at September 12, 2004 04:23 PM