T-Mobile offers tips to those in the path of Hurricane Irene

T-Mobile is telling its customers who are in the path of Hurricane Irene, that it is moving resources into the area to quickly restore service in case of an outage. The carrier has set up a number of Command Centers along the coast where engineers will move to in case service has been interrupted. In the Carolinas, Greater Tri-State Area and New England region, T-Mobile has moved portable and back-up generators all filled with fuel and ready to go, repair and transport vehicles are ready to be deployed, and critical sites have battery back-up. In case land-lines servicing T-Mobile's cells go down, microwave radios will handle calls. Engineers on-call are being moved to areas that could be in the storm's path and Cells-On-Wheels will provide additional capacity in especially hard hit regions. T-Mobile is also adding capacity to evacuation routes.

The carrier also has some tips for customers who might be affected by the Hurricane. The other day, we showed you a video from the Weather Channel with some tips for cell phone use during and after a hurricane, and similar to what Verizon's spokesman said, T-Mobile suggests texting instead of making voice calls as the odds of a text message getting through are better during periods of high-usage. If you do make a voice call, T-Mobile suggests that you make it a short one. If your phone has Wi-Fi connectivity, use it because you will be able to make calls with your in-home data connection in case the carrier's network is out or heavily congested. Finally, T-Mobile suggests that you charge your phone's battery fully prior to the approach of the storm. The carrier adds that you should obtain a vehicle charger so that you can keep your handset working even if the power is out.

source: T-Mobile