"Wireless Carriers Tell Customers to Text, Not Call, as Sandy Nears"

Text Not Call

As the northeastern coast of the United States anticipates the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, wireless carriers are asking its subscribers to prepare for the inevitable impact of this monster storm. Apart from boarding the windows and sandbagging the doorways, you should also keep your mobile communications open while conserving precious battery power in anticipation of power interruptions. One way of doing that is to limit your voice calls, keeping them short, and send text messages instead to ease network congestion.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have other tips provided in their advisories, to wit:
* Keep handsets and phone accessories such as batteries and chargers in sealed plastic bags to prevent water damage.
* Charge up your extra phone battery while you can.
* Add into your phone’s contact list all key emergency phone numbers and email addresses, such as your local police, fire and rescue agencies like the Red Cross. Also add contact details of your children’s schools and service people.
* If you are being evacuated, set up your call forwarding from home or work to your wireless number.
* Take pictures or video of your property and valuable using your phone’s camera before the storm hits. The “before” images make great reference materials if your home suffers storm damage.
* If cellular service is down in your area, but the home WiFi network is still functioning, switch your phone’s connectivity to WiFi.

Source: NBC News