There won’t be room for these guys

Add your cell provider to the list of infrastructures that probably won’t be able to handle D.C.’s inauguration crowds. According to WTOP, providers are trying their best to make sure that every one of the 2 to 4 million people expected to descend upon the District can still make a phone call.

Nonetheless, they’re begging you to text:

CTIA [the group which represents the wireless industry] is suggesting that people send text messages instead of phone calls when possible, because text messages place less strain on the network and are more likely to go through. CTIA is also suggesting that people refrain from immediately trying to send photos or videos from the scene, because they gobble up large amounts of bandwidth.

What’s your provider up to?

• Sprint “would anticipate a dropped call rate of only 2 percent even if the crowds reach as high as 2 million.”
• “Mobile provider T-Mobile said its preparations for the inauguration exceed those of any single-day event in the company’s history.” That doesn’t mean a whole lot, but hey, at least they’re busy.
• And as for the wireless darling of the Metro system, “Verizon Wireless, a big local player, referred questions to [CTIA].” One hopes that’s just a sign of their dedication, and they’ve enlisted their spokesperson to install temporary cell towers on the Mall.

Still, better that Grandma calls than nature calls.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under News, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.