AT&T warned customers in hurricane Helene’s path that some of their network may experience outages.

AT&T Inc. is one of the biggest multinational cellular carriers, with coverage of over 55% of the U.S. As of September 30th AT&T announced there have been over 150 requests for emergency connectivity support across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

In a September 24th press release Joe York, president of AT&T Florida says “That’s why we practice readiness drills and simulations throughout the year. And we do all we can to have our networks prepared when severe weather strikes.” 

AT&T takes a preventative approach and has a crew and equipment ready to restore service connection once it is safe to do so. 

AT&T has partnered with the FirstNet response operations group, a team of former first responders who work in collaboration with local and federal agencies to restore the access to voice and data needs. This is the crew that goes out with the mobile cell site equipment to restore access to cellular coverage in the locations that have been affected by the storm. 

AT&T’s network disaster recovery program includes specialized on the go equipment, such as mobile cell sites, flying cell on wings, satellite cell on light trucks and drones to assess and improve cell site damage by providing a moving cell signal tower. AT&T stated that they have been preparing backup generators, backup batteries and strategically staging equipment to deploy as soon as it is safe to do so. 

Having a backup plan in place gives investors and shareholders the confidence to continue supporting the company. 

Additionally AT&T has waived overage charges, providing unlimited text, talk and data coverage so customers can stay in contact with loved ones.