Cable, Phone and Wireless Networks Fare OK in Blizzard
Cable, phone and wireless networks generally fared well during and after the blizzard across the Mid-Atlantic U.S. that closed the federal government in Washington, leaving several hundred thousand homes without power. Our survey of direct-broadcast satellite and cable providers, TV stations in Washington, and wireline and wireless companies found no major network problems over the weekend or Monday. Some Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile cell sites were without electricity and some Verizon phone customers didn’t have service, company spokespeople said.
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With many staying indoors last weekend, there was an uptick in linear viewing on broadcast and subscription services -- including record ratings for the Super Bowl. (See separate item in this issue.) The game had the second- highest rating in Washington among metered markets, with a 56.0 rating, CBS said. That was less than 1 percent lower than the New Orleans market, whose Saints won the game in an upset, CBS said. “The ratings nationally on Friday night and Saturday night did look to be a little higher than usual,” an NBC spokesman said. “Three of four major networks [were] up on Friday versus the prior Friday in adults 18-49 and then again on Saturday, three of four major networks were up versus the prior Saturday in 18-49.”
Several companies said broadband usage also increased, as well as on-demand video and regular TV viewing. Cox Communications, with cable systems in northern Virginia, had increased VOD usage and purchases, a spokesman said. RCN saw “huge” VOD usage, said Richard Beville, general manager for the Washington market. “We've sen a lot more broadband splurges” with increased online use. As with the last big snowstorm to hit the area, in December, the cable company had “a lot more TV viewing” and subscribers bought more VOD programs, Beville added. “I think they end up continuing to buy more. I think that’s a side-benefit of the blizzard, but I'll take us not getting any more snow” over increased usage.
Verizon had “increased levels of voice traffic on our network at times, particularly on Saturday as the storm blew through,” a spokesman said. “We also saw video-on-demand usage that was significantly higher than normal over the weekend, particularly in the Washington/Baltimore/Richmond and the Pennsylvania/Delaware areas” hit hard by the storm. On Monday morning, the telco had about 16,400 repair reports for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. -- “several times our normal repair load,” he added. “Verizon’s network performed well” and customers “by and large were able to make and receive calls, cruise the Internet and watch TV.”
T-Mobile USA had a 10 percent increase in calls and a 15 percent increase in data usage during the weekend versus the previous one, a spokesman said. Less than 1 percent of the network remained affected due to snow, he said. Engineers responded quickly and have been working on it, he said. Officials at other companies also said they responded to problems quickly, with some calling in additional repair crews and moving up routine repair and installation appointments to Friday -- before the blizzard -- or afterward. With another storm forecast to begin Tuesday night, RCN is rescheduling appointments, Beville said. “We're keeping our fingers crossed right now. We were able to jump on it over the weekend quite good. We're worried about the next storm coming in because we don’t know how much more weight some of this can take.” He was referring to snow-laden cable lines and trees.
Engineers have been working on some Sprint cell sites that were impacted by power outages in several states, a spokeswoman said. Cell sites have fuel cell backup power systems and most had power back Monday, she said. Some AT&T wireless subscribers were affected in parts of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., due to weather-related cell site outages, a spokeswoman said. Technicians are working to restore service to affected cell sites, she said.
Verizon Wireless saw no service interruption to customers throughout the storm, a spokeswoman said. The service provider saw a 37 percent uptick in use during peak hours Sunday, she said. That likely was due to customers relying on cellphones as their primary way to communicate on behalf of those they were helping during the storm or those seeking assistance, she said. Level 3 continued to deliver uninterrupted service to government agencies and businesses throughout the Washington area during the storm, a spokeswoman said. Qwest’s “network has performed beautifully despite what Mother Nature has been throwing at it during this past weekend’s snow,” a spokesman said. “In addition to wireless carriers, the Qwest network supports enterprise and government customers, and we didn’t have any problems carrying their traffic either.”
The largest cable operator in the Washington market, Comcast “was well prepared for the storm, and took numerous measures ahead of time,” a spokeswoman said. We increased staffing, and had employees and extra equipment and resources placed strategically. … It appears most issues are directly related to commercial power outages, and for the vast majority of people, service should be restored as power comes back on to their homes.” Cox and RCN officials’ comments were similar. “We did not have any equipment issues with our network and no Cox Business customers suffered outages,” a spokesman said. “For residential customers we had 50 drops down this weekend and they were all repaired by Sunday.” RCN had 40 line drops.
Dish Network didn’t see a significant rise in complaints to call centers in the Washington-area, a spokeswoman said. The biggest problem for most DBS subscribers during snowstorms are a buildup of snow on satellite dishes, an issue most subscribers can solve themselves. The spokeswoman said most satellite dishes are placed where subscribers can access them without putting themselves in danger. At RCN, technicians went up to the roof of its headend in suburban Maryland every few hours to clear snow away from the satellite dishes that receive channels from programers, Beville said.
The storm caused rescheduling of “the bulk” of DirecTV’s work orders, a spokesman said. The company has contingency plans for “all types of weather,” he said. In some cases, the company sent services trucks to help subscribers deal with snow-related outages, he said. “With snow-in-dish issues, our DirecTV call centers are proficient at trouble shooting, but of course with a steady snow and a dish that may be inaccessible it may become a service issue and we'd roll a truck in.”