AT&T has announced it has launched its new stolen phone database that offers customers a chance to report and block stolen wireless equipment, with the hope it will deter would-be thieves.

AT&T has been criticized in the past for allowing stolen phones back onto its network, but now customers can add their stolen or missing equipment to a national database that will prevent the phones from being reactivated with other GSM carriers (primarily T-Mobile).

AT&T said customers can report stolen phones and suspend service via att.com/stolenphone, at an AT&T store, or by contacting customer service. AT&T will block the device within 24 hours, the carrier said.

Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile activated their databases earlier.

Verizon’s flooded headquarters on West St., lower Manhattan (The Wall Street Journal)

As cleanup efforts continue across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, some of America’s largest telecommunications companies are coming under increased scrutiny for being caught flat-footed after Hurricane Sandy roared across the tri-state region, causing damage Verizon’s chief technology officer now admits is worse than 9/11.

As of this morning, Verizon Wireless’ network is reportedly straining, particularly in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where cell service that worked immediately after the storm is now increasingly failing.

Verizon said 94% of its cell sites were operational after the storm, but some local officials in the area believe 94% of Verizon’s wireless network has now failed them when they need it the most.

Many telecom companies, particularly AT&T, are being criticized for excessive secrecy about the ongoing state of their networks post-Sandy. AT&T, which left its customers in the dark about service restoration as late as last night while asking customers to contribute $10 to the American Red Cross, finally mass e-mailed customers a statement devoid of much detail signed by Steve Hodges, president of AT&T’s northeast region.

“Restoring our wireless network is our top priority,” Hodges writes. “The vast majority of our cell sites in the Northeast are online and working. We are working issues in areas that were especially hard-hit, where flooding, power loss, transportation and debris all pose challenges. Our crews are working around the clock to restore network service to areas that were impacted by the storm. We will not stop until we repair all of the damage to our network and restore service back to its full capacity.”

The Federal Communications Commission correctly predicted the situation with mobile phones could get worse before it gets better, as backup power wears down and flooding persists. At a press conference held yesterday, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski revealed at least a quarter of all cell sites in areas damaged by Sandy were not operational. Those numbers were less optimistic that those provided by carriers.

The FCC this week activated the Disaster Information Reporting System, a central reporting point for telecommunications companies to update the agency regarding outages and other service disruptions. The FCC also alerted providers that in emergency circumstances, they can assist companies getting fuel for generators and help locate portable cell tower equipment for companies caught unaware.

AT&T’s belated letter to customers affected by Hurricane Sandy

Some may need the help.

New York State Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz both reported Verizon Wireless’ outages are worsening in Brooklyn and midtown Manhattan.

Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today told Sen. Chuck Schumer the federal agency will reimburse New York for 100 percent of the costs incurred restoring power across the storm areas. But that may not expedite how quickly power returns.

Power restoration is expected to bring most cell towers back online. Worsening service is being attributed to battery backup or generator equipment exhausting on-hand fuel supplies, which usually keeps service up and running for up to three days. That means cell towers without power and unreachable by workers will have begun failing late Wednesday into today.

Damage assessments are further behind in New Jersey, the state that took the worst impact from Hurricane Sandy.

Stop the Cap! obtained some new figures from cell phone companies regarding the state of their networks:

• Verizon: Still holding to 94% operational in storm areas;
• AT&T: Declined to comment except to say “the vast majority” of their network is operational;
• T-Mobile: 80% operational in NYC, 90% operational in Washington, D.C.
• Sprint: 75% operational

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Verizon’s critical network takes another hit. “We’ve been here before,” says one Verizon executive, referring to the destruction from the 9/11 terrorist attacks which severely damaged the same facility on West Street now flooded out. (3 minutes)

Our readers report that cell service becomes spotty to non-existent in coastal New Jersey and Connecticut. In Manhattan anywhere south of 29th Street, readers report almost no signals at all.

Verizon’s damaged facilities include those on West and Broad Streets in Manhattan (circled).

Residents are trading tips about “magic spots” where cell service does suddenly pop up, and Gizmodo notes the only place in Alphabet City (the east side in southern Manhattan) to get service is on literally one street corner, where crowds congregate to make and receive calls.

The other salve for telecom withdrawal is the nearest pay phone.

Amusing stories of 20-somethings waiting in long lines only to be confounded by unfamiliar pay phones are appearing in the New York media. One radio station even aired basic instructions for members of the Millennial Generation that have never heard of inserting coins into telephones.

The biggest challenge for the city’s pay phone vendors is clearing them of coin overloads, something unheard of before the storm.

The often maligned pay phone has exposed the limits of the “more advanced” and expensive networks that were supposed to replace them. Despite claims of superiority for wireless service, northeast residents have once again discovered it has its limits:

• They don’t work during major weather events that knock out power and limit access to maintain backup generators;
• Cell networks are less capable of handling large call volumes, a problem made worse when cell phone refugees in other areas seek out remaining cell signals, further congesting the network;
• Wireless is just as susceptible to wireline or fiber failures on the ground. Cell towers typically connect to providers through wired backhaul circuits, which knock out cell service if they fail;
• Cell phone users need power to recharge their power-hungry smartphones. Batteries drain even faster searching for a weak or non-existent cell signal;

Hardest hit remains Verizon, which allowed reporters access inside damaged facilities to help New Yorkers better understand the scope of the problem.

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The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the state of the wireless communications networks across the northeastern U.S. and when service will be back.  (4 minutes)

Eleven years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took out Verizon’s West Street office when buildings collapsed at the nearby World Trade Center, Verizon is likely going to have to re-learn some lessons about catastrophe management as flood waters recede.

Verizon has deployed this 53-foot Emergency Mobile Communications Center for use by the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management that provides Internet and phone service.

The Wall Street Journal was able to obtain access inside the damaged facilities, and the reporter covering the event was left somewhat stunned by the scope of the damage.

In the middle of organized, yet chaotic recovery efforts was Verizon’s chief technology officer Tony Melone who had seen enough to declare the damage worse than 9/11.

The pictures of several feet of muddy water from the nearby Hudson River covering the lobby of the company’s headquarters on West Street said it all. The mostly salt water was an unwelcome guest in Verizon’s building, especially considering the five level basement below the lobby contains critical cables and telecommunications equipment. Almost four of those basement floors were completely flooded. After the water was pumped out, dampness and leaves from nearby trees remain littered on the floor.

One lesson learned after 9/11 was not to place critical phone switches below ground level. After reconstruction, the switches were moved to a higher floor and consequently were left undamaged. But while Verizon moved its backup generators upstairs, it left the pumps and fuel tanks that power them in the basement — leaving them inoperable.

This morning, passersby on West Street have to step around Verizon’s network of generators now running outside of the building, right next to large temporary fuel tanks to power them.

Verizon central offices in other parts of Manhattan, particularly further southeast on Broad Street, were never upgraded and are in worse shape, with electrical equipment damaged perhaps beyond repair. The force of the water was strong enough to bend the 86 year-old steel and bronze doors. Workers there are still trying to get water out of the building, shoving a pipe down an elevator shaft to facilitate pumping.

Verizon has some redundancy built into its network to protect its most valuable customers. That kept the landline phones working at the New York Stock Exchange, even though other landline and wireless customers will have  to wait longer for service to resume.

AT&T’s generator staging area near Meriden, Connecticut. (Credit: Brian Pernicone)

Some critics of the increasingly concentrated telecommunications landscape think Verizon and other companies have still not learned enough to prevent the kinds of service disruptions that will leave some customers without service for weeks.

It is hard to miss the bustle outside of Verizon’s offices damaged by the storm, watching flood water drain down the street. But things are murkier at cell phone providers who have been less than forthcoming about specific outage information and service restoration assessments.

Some have advocated the federal government step in and require cell phone service, now deemed essential by an increasing number of Americans, be protected with robust backup solutions to keep service up and running after catastrophic weather events.

After Hurricane Katrina, the FCC in 2007 tried to issue new rules that required a minimum of eight hours of backup power for all cell sites. The industry balked, predicting it would lead to “staggering and irreparable harm” for the cell companies. One wireless trade association warned their members might take several cell sites down if they were forced to provide backup power.

The CTIA Wireless Association and Sprint-Nextel sued the agency in federal court and the Bush Administration’s Office of Management and Budget eventually killed the proposed regulations.

T-Mobile and AT&T have cut an emergency deal to share their cellphone networks in areas affected by Superstorm Sandy. They’re trying to make it a little easier for customers to get a signal as carriers restore their networks. Some say companies should be forced to make their networks more resilient. National Public Radio’s Morning Edition has the story. (November 1, 2012) (3 minutes)
You must remain on this page to hear the clip, or you can download the clip and listen later.

Hurricane Sandy’s destructive forces of wind and water, combined with extensive electrical outages has wreaked havoc with telecommunications services from Maine to Virginia, leaving some customers potentially without service for weeks.

The storm has flooded Verizon‘s central switching offices in New York City, did extensive damage to Sprint’s wireless network and infrastructure, has left large sections of upstate and downstate New York without cable service, and clocks ticking for wireless cell customers using cell sites currently running on battery backup power.

Some of the worst problems are affecting Verizon’s landline and FiOS networks after the company lost two critical switching centers in Manhattan to extensive flooding. That has contributed to significant problems for Verizon customers across Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island. Further afield, Verizon customers without service can blame power outages and fallen trees that took out overhead wiring. Together, Verizon customers are experiencing significant problems with landline, broadband, and FiOS TV and Internet services in some areas.

Many Verizon Wireless cell sites are operating on battery backup units which maintain service for only a limited time. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut customers report increasing difficulty maintaining cell service signals as those battery backup units start to fail. Verizon engineering crews can restore undamaged cell sites with backup generators once permitted into storm-ravaged areas.

One of the hardest hit wireless carriers

Cablevision‘s business largely depends on areas that took a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy. Cablevision repair crews are encountering extensive power outages and damaged overhead wiring brought down during the storm in Connecticut and Long Island. Its service area closer to New York City has been primarily affected by power outages. Comcast said it was still starting an assessment process and was not prepared to report on the current state of its network, which operates in cities north and south of the New York City metro area.

While Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley reports little damage to Time Warner Cable’s systems, many remain offline from power interruptions, and Time Warner’s Twitter feed for upstate New York reports isolated outages in Portland, Maine and across upstate New York, primarily due to power losses or damage to infrastructure.

Sprint appears to be the hardest hit wireless carrier with widespread service outages, interruptions and call completion issues throughout the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Maryland, North Virginia and New England. Some customers far away from the worst-hit areas report trouble making and receiving calls on Sprint’s network. Many cell sites are also damaged.

AT&T is assessing damage to its landline operations in Connecticut, where it is the dominant phone company. Many AT&T cell phone sites, like Verizon, are operating on battery backup in power outage areas until AT&T can bring generators online to maintain service.

T-Mobile and MetroPCS report damage and service outages to their cellular networks as well, mostly from power outages.

Lyndhurst, NJ

Even old style communications networks were not spared from Hurricane Sandy. The Northeast Radio Watch reports a large number of broadcasters across the region off the air as of this morning:

• Outside of WOR (710), most New York City area AM stations are off the air. WOR survived the storm with its recently built three tower site located just above the flood waters. Chief engineer Tom Ray told NERW the water is 10 feet deep at WOR’s transmitter site in the Meadowlands. Many AM stations in New York favor transmitter locations in now-ravaged Lyndhurst and the Meadowlands. The result: indefinite absence of all-news WINS (1010) (it’s now back up — thanks to an update from Scott Fybush), which is now being heard on WXRK (92.3). Also missing: WLIB (1190), WSNR (620), WMCA (570), WNYC (820), WPAT (930), WNYM (970), WADO (1280) and WWRV (1330). FM outlets favor much higher transmitter locations, usually atop large skyscrapers, that escaped flood damage.
• WABC continues to air the audio portion of its broadcast on WEPN-AM (1050) and FM (98.7) for the benefit of those without power. WCBS studios are currently powered “by candlelight.”
• The Jersey shore’s FM outlets are mostly silent. Atlantic City was among the hardest hit, and some stations may be off the air for some time while rebuilding.
• Connecticut stations are also off the air. Powerhouse WICC (600) in Bridgeport has transmitters on Long Island Sound — a poor choice to withstand Sandy. It is likely underwater. Also gone: WGCH (1490 Greenwich), WAXB (850 Ridgefield) and WSHU (1260 Westport) and WALK-FM (97.5 Patchogue).

Repair crews for all concerned will likely only start assessing damage later today, but many will have to wait for power crews to complete work — they have first priority. Those lucky enough to see service restoration once power returns will be in far better shape than others who could wait weeks to get their Internet, television and phone service back.

Correction: Original story included reference to studio power knocked out at WOR-TV. That should have said WOR-AM (radio). 

AT&T says this deal was no problem, but ponders whether Sprint-Clearwire is.

AT&T, the company that tried and failed to buy Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA, is sounding the alarm, urging regulators to carefully review any deal between Sprint, Softbank, and Clearwire.

“Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint and the control it gains over Clearwire will give one of Japan’s largest wireless companies control of significantly more U.S. wireless spectrum than any other company,” Brad Burns, an AT&T vice president said in a statement released late Wednesday. “We expect that fact and others will be fully explored in the regulatory review process. This is one more example of a very dynamic and competitive U.S. wireless marketplace, which is an important fact for U.S. regulators to recognize.”

AT&T claims its primary concern is the growing foreign control of America’s wireless carriers. That did not seem to bother AT&T from doing business with Germany-based Deutsche Telekom. Verizon Wireless has not been the recipient of any AT&T complaints either, and it is jointly owned by Verizon Communications and London-based Vodafone Group Plc.

Sprint bankrolled an opposition campaign against AT&T’s 2011 attempt to buy T-Mobile in a $39 billion dollar deal that failed after regulators objected to its impact on marketplace competition.

AT&T’s concerns about spectrum control may be an attempt to lobby the FCC for more leniency in approving future spectrum acquisitions. But industry analysts note that while a combined Sprint-Clearwire network may control more spectrum than others, much of it occupies less-favorable, very high frequencies that have trouble delivering robust service indoors. AT&T maintains a considerable amount of prime spectrum most sought by carriers, some of it yet to be used.

Sprint will have majority ownership in Clearwire, including its lucrative wireless spectrum.

Sprint-Nextel will gain majority control over its beleaguered wireless partner Clearwire with the $100 million acquisition of Craig McCaw’s stake in the wireless company he co-founded.

Sprint already controlled 48 percent of Clearwire, which provides many Sprint customers with 4G WiMAX service, but today’s purchase will give Sprint more control over Clearwire’s considerable wireless spectrum holdings.

Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst this morning told Bloomberg News Sprint’s acquisition will make a Sprint-Clearwire combination more attractive to Softbank, which is buying a controlling interest in Sprint and wants firm ground in the U.S. market.

“It gives the combined company much more spectrum, much more ability to deliver services,” Kagan said.

But Sprint denied it was seeking a complete acquisition of Clearwire, which still has Intel and cable operator Comcast as part-owners.

Clearwire’s planned 4G TD-LTE network upgrade due to launch in 2013 is also a comfortable fit for Sprint’s new partner — Tokyo-based Softbank, which uses the same technology on its own 4G network in Japan. Softbank last week announced it would pay $20.1 billion for a controlling interest in Sprint-Nextel.

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CNBC covers Sprint’s announced acquisition of a controlling interest in beleaguered Clearwire, and what impact the acquisition will likely have on Sprint shareholders. (3 minutes)