AT&T’s mobile charging van

AT&T’s effort to aid powerless areas of Brooklyn with mobile charging stations to help customers recharge dead cell phones fell flat when the company sent the trucks without the equipment needed to charge phones.

Timothy Stenovec reported from the Red Hook neighborhood:

In Coffey Park, just steps from where the National Guard was helping distribute food and water to residents, a large AT&T truck sat, two orange generators resting silently on the sidewalk next to it.

Despite the company’s intention for the vehicle to serve as a mobile power station, the truck was waiting on equipment necessary to charge phones, and had been turning people away all day.

Marie Reveron, who is 57 and has been without power since the storm, said she waited at the truck for more than two hours on Friday morning, expecting the equipment to arrive so she could charge her phone.

“Phone service is the most important thing, and now my phone is on its last, dying bar,” she told The Huffington Post. “Sometimes you have all the bars, and the phone won’t even work.”

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/ATT Charging Stations.flv[/flv]

AT&T is allowing the general public into area AT&T stores and portable charging centers to recharge their wireless equipment, at least when the equipment needed to do that shows up. (2 minutes)

As of Monday, Nov. 5, charging stations are available at the following locations. The stations are open to the general public.

Brooklyn:

• Red Hook East and West – Coffey Park at Richards Street
• Corner of Brighton Beach Avenue and Coney Island Avenue
• Surf Avenue Playground – West 25th Street and Surf Avenue

Manhattan:

• Fulton Street Houses – 419 West 17th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues
• Hamilton Fish – Pitt Street and East Houston Street

Queens:

• Hammel Playground – Beach 84th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard
• Conch Playground – Beach 44th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard
• Mott Avenue at Beach Channel Drive
• St. Francis de Sales Parish – 126-16 Rockaway Beach Boulevard at Beach 129th Boulevard

Staten Island:

• Midland Beach – Hunter Avenue and Father Capadanno Boulevard
• Parking Lot – Mill Road and New Dorp Lane

Other New York Locations:

• Floral Park (store) – 181 Jericho Turnpike

New Jersey Locations:

• Edgewater Square (store) – 75 River Road
• Watchung (store) – 1592 Route 22 East
• Point Pleasant Beach (The Wireless Experience – Authorized Retailer) – 3122 Route 88 and Highland Drive

The Star-Ledger reports things in New Jersey may be worse.

AT&T brought in hundreds of generators to power cell towers, according to company spokeswoman Ellen Webner, but she said keeping them topped off with fuel has been a challenge. Webner told the newspaper the company will talk to customers who want their bill adjusted for outage time.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/ATT Generators.flv[/flv]

AT&T carefully tracks its generators now being deployed to cell sites still without power. But some critics wonder why generators are not on site before disaster strikes. (2 minutes)

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/ATT Portable Microwave Cell Tower.flv[/flv]

AT&T cannot easily bring back cell sites that lack backhaul connections to Verizon’s central offices, some still non-operational due to severe flood damage. AT&T shows off emergency equipment that can establish a temporary microwave backhaul link and restore cell service. (2 minutes)