Hurricane Irene: Yikes!!!

[Trek420]

My poor cousin was going crazy on Tuesday after the earthquake. She was on Long Island, her husband and brother at work in lower Manhattan, her son and in-laws in Virginia near the epicenter. And she couldn't reach anyone by phone.

When there's an emergency we instinctively reach for the phone. Phone service whether traditional dial tone or cell is really not designed to handle every mothers son of the users in the area all at once. Plain ol' telephone service shuts down to protect the network for 1st responders if enough people dial all at once

Which is why we all (yes, self included, I need to revisit this) need an emergency phone plan. One person you call or contact outside of your area, that person calls everyone else to let them know you're ok ... or not.

Also in an emergency stay off the line unless you have an actual emergency. If you must call and you have no dial tone don't hang up and try again ... you just make matters worse. Wait, it may come on in a few seconds or a minute or two, make that one call and hang up.

http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=1325