'Deep frustration' after cell phone outages persist after Hurricane Helene landfall

When Helene inundated and isolated communities across the Southeast, it knocked out cell phone service in Canton, North Carolina at the moment residents needed it most, according to the town's mayor, Zeb Smathers.

The loss of service "crippled" the town's ability to communicate during and after a devastating storm, leaving residents few options to get crucial updates on emergencies and check on their loved ones, Smathers told USA TODAY. The mayor publically called out providers, saying they hadn't done enough to help families and first responders stay connected.

“I must also express my deep frustration and anger with the failures in cellular communication, particularly the inability to rely on services when we needed them most,” he said in a statement. “From the very start of this crisis, our ability to communicate with basic emergency services was crippled, and there is no excuse for this.”

Making cell communication accessible during a disaster should be something these companies have the resources and know-how to offer, he said.

Helene has killed at least 100 people and left thousands more across the Southeast isolated without cell phone service or power, making communication difficult or impossible in some areas. Major cellular providers have said they are working "nonstop" to provide temporary solutions and fully restore service. But the reality on the ground has been harrowing for people stuck without means of reaching their relatives and relatives who can't reach out for help.

Communications in the region could be impacted for days, weeks or even months, and large companies need to do more to prepare for communication breakdowns triggered by disasters fueled by climate change, said Alyssa Provencio, a professor who oversees the disaster management certificate program at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“Communication failure is not a matter of 'if,' it's a matter of 'when,'” said Provencio. “We know that extreme events are occurring more frequently and with more intensity, and so whether you're talking about hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes, it's something that will impact you and impact your communications.”

Trying to keep a positive outlook

Twyla Bosley has been waiting anxiously for days to hear from her daughter, Sorida Gain.

Bosley said Gain, 40, had been riding out the storm in Marion, North Carolina, with her boyfriend, James McKinney, their dogs and chickens. Gain sent her mom a text early Friday, saying flood waters had started to breach their basement. That was the last time Bosley heard from her.

“I'm trying to keep a positive mindset that she just cannot reach out to me right now,” Bosley said. “My mind goes to the worst-case scenario, you know, what if something did happen to her? What if she got trapped there?”

People trapped inside the areas hardest hit by Helene are also anxious to communicate with their loved ones. Many are desperate to know what cell phone companies can do and how fast they can do it to restore their access to each other and the world.

What are cellular companies doing to restore service?

Before Helene made landfall, T-Mobile set up equipment just outside the storm’s path so that teams could respond quickly when the storm hit, according to Nicole Hudnet, the national advisor to T-Mobile's emergency response team and T-Mobile for government.

Debris and damage to the roadways have made it difficult for teams to address physical damage to service in some areas, but the company has deployed more than 500 emergency crew members, field engineers and technicians across the Southeast region. While crews set up portable generators to restore power to cell sites long term, the company has also established charging stations with Wi-Fi and deployed multiple Satellite Cells on Light Trucks, also called SatCOLTs, which Hudnet said can provide coverage for a radius of up to 10 miles depending on the topography. 

“What I can tell you is that our teams are working diligently around the clock to restore the network, and they won't stop until it is fully 100% restored,” Hudnet said.

AT&T has launched “one of the largest mobilizations of our disaster recovery assets for emergency connectivity support,” in response to Helene, Corey Anthony, senior vice president of network engineering and operation, said in a statement. The company set up a disaster response base camp in Georgia and dispatch yards in multiple states to improve efficiency, Anthony said.

Since Helene hit, AT&T has responded to more than 130 requests for emergency connectivity support from public safety officials and it “will continue to prioritize their response and recovery communications needs.” The company said it has already restored more than 60% of the cell sites in the impacted area, but power outages may still affect service even after repairs are made.

“While the recovery process will be lengthy in some areas, we are prioritizing areas we can access immediately to restore connectivity as quickly as possible,” Anthony said. “We have made progress, however, severely damaged areas will require additional time for repairs.”

Meanwhile, teams from Verizon are working to refuel the generators powering their cell sites, repair fiber cables and provide alternative forms of connectivity across the region, the company said in a statement. 

Like its competitors, Verizon has deployed more than 20 “mobile satellite assets” to provide temporary connection to cell towers and set up charging stations where community members can use their devices to contact loved ones. In North Carolina, the company has also released a cell-enabled tethered drone that provides cell service from the air.

"We are seeing slow but steady progress," the company said in a Sunday evening update.

What about roaming access in disaster zones?

Disaster roaming has also been activated in the hard-hit state, which allows any customer to connect to any provider's working network, according to a release from Gov. Roy Cooper. Carriers are required by the Federal Communications Commission to provide roaming to one another when a network is down in major disasters. FEMA has also provided 40 Starlink satellite systems to help first responders communicate in North Carolina, according to a release from the Department of Homeland Security.

All three carriers contacted by USA TODAY have said they will waive charges for calls, texts and data usage for affected customers in the wake of the storm. 

How can people prepare for outages caused by disasters?

Because society is so dependent on technology in our everyday lives, it's important to have backup plans in place in an emergency. Experts suggest these tips to weather an outage caused by a glitch, natural disaster or even a cyberattack:

• Cash. It's a good idea to have cash on hand in case you can't use mobile payment options or ATMs are down, James Kendra, co-director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, previously told USA TODAY.
• Paper copies of important documents. “One of the things that I stress to everybody is to have paper copies of all of your important documents,” Kendra said. That means a printed-out bank statement so you have all your account numbers, a printed insurance statement, a phone bill and mortgage or rent documents so you have the numbers available you might typically go online to get.
• Landline. If you don't have a landline during a cell network outage, you might still be able to use your cell to send SMS text messages or use Wi-Fi to send messages or make calls.
• A radio. This is always a good thing to have to receive emergency updates, said Provencio, from the University of Central Oklahoma, but if you don't have one in your home, chances are you do have one in your car.
• Other supplies.Learn more about packing a go-bag and gathering sheltering-in-place items

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY and Brandi D. Addison, USA TODAY NETWORK