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Mobile calls failed after quake
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| Published on Monday, January 25, 2010 |
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Managing Director of ICTA,
Dave Archbold
By Kevin Shereves
kevin@caymannetnews.com
Many residents discovered last Tuesday within minutes after an earthquake tremor shook buildings on Grand Cayman that they were not able to depend on mobile phone service during the wide-scale fright.
Thousands of mobile users created congestion on Digicel, and Landline Internet Mobile Entertainment (LIME) networks following the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that shut down communication among family members and businesses for about an hour Tuesday morning, raising serious concerns for critical emergencies in the future.
Government officials, however, said that they were not entirely dependent on mobile communications as they resorted to their emergency communications plan.
“Cell phones and mobile networks are not our primary means of communication,” said Omar Afflick, Deputy Director of Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI), “because we are mindful that these systems can become congested.”
The government’s emergency communications system includes a VHF (Very High Frequency) radio system, as well as some satellite phones.
“Each government agency has access to our VHF systems, which allows us effective communications during an emergency situation,” said Mr Afflick, “and each government agency is assigned its own channels on the radio system.
“We also use a wireless network system, which has been tested and was used briefly following last Tuesday’s earthquake,” he added. “Several reports were successfully submitted to HMCI using the wireless communications following the earthquake.”
Mr Afflick also said that various government agencies are equipped with satellite phones for communications while on or off the Island, and unless landlines were destroyed during an earthquake, they are more reliable than mobile networks.
Dave Archbold, Managing Director of ICTA said that the mobile congestion in the Cayman Islands following last Tuesday’s tremors is the same as it would be in any country.
“Everyone started making calls at exactly the same time and we experienced an overload,” he said. “If it was suggested that companies should configure their networks to cope with the level of traffic in an emergency scenario, it neither makes business nor logical sense, because of the outrageous costs involved.”
Mr Archbold also said that landlines experienced no such congestion on the day of the quake. “Obviously, mobile call volumes went up during the emergency situation, but landline volumes did not.”
The ICTA manager suggested that since such overload happens only “once in a blue moon” and since all is being done that can be done to the networks that people should ask themselves, “Do I really need to make that call?”
Digicel, TeleCayman, and LIME all reported that their networks were actually up and running during and after the quake.
“Our customers did experience intermittent congestion following the earthquake,” said Victor Corcoran, CEO of Digicel, “due to the high volume of calls being made and received on the Digicel network, as the entire country simultaneously tried to contact friends and family.”
He also said that the congestion experienced quickly dissipated once customers reached their loved ones. “Traffic on the Digicel network returned back to normal levels within an hour of the earthquake.”
Digicel’s CEO said that the company has two mobile networks that operate throughout the Cayman Islands, and following the earthquake, Digicel’s network carried just under five times the number of calls that it would normally carry.
Craig Merren, Business Account Manager at TeleCayman said that “telecommunication systems can be very sensitive.” One of the first things that people do in an emergency situation is to pick up the phone and call their friends and loved ones, he said. “My understanding is that the lines got all congested due to very high call volumes.”
Dwayne Mellaneo, Head of Corporate Sales and Service, concurred that the congestion on the LIME mobile network was due to the number of people immediately after the incident “trying to contact their loved ones to make sure they were all okay.”
In light of the obvious airwave congestion that occurs after a minor incident, residents might do well to depend less on their mobile phones and to have a back-up communication plan in place for their families in case of serious emergencies. | | | | Reads : 1921 |
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Daniel Gless:
Folks; use your CB radios....breaker-breaker one nine, didja feel that one! Shook my 18 wheeler right off the road! While that was a foolish example; do you really need to make that call? If it was a real emergency, keep the lines of communication open for emergency traffic please. Use a landline or just wait. Easier said than done; I agree. |
| Carson C. Cadogan:
I am not surprise at all to learn that the mobile phone services failed just when you needed them most. A couple of years ago Barbados experienced a small earthquake, and the first thing Barbadians realised was the fact that Digicel network stopped working; Lime network still worked. Digicel does not appear to be a very robust network. |
| Victor Look Loy:
While it is true that the cell phone congestion only happens once in a blue moon; as a layman I would suggest that certain cell phones be allocated to lines / circuits which are not available to the general public so that they can always communicate with each other. A few hundred circuits could be dedicated to emergency personnel 24/7 in order to ensure that the 4 or 5 people in each essential service, and Government departments, can always reach each other. Whether this is technologically possible in Cayman is another matter. |
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