Katrina Demos the Failure to Communicate

"BellSouth, the major provider of landline phone service in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, lost connections on close to 2.5 million telephone lines following Katrina, said Bill Smith, the company's chief technology officer. As of Tuesday morning, about 200,000 lines continued to be disconnected, he said... About 20 million telephone calls did not go through the day after Katrina struck, Martin said. The hurricane knocked out 38 emergency (911) response centers, and three remained down as of Wednesday, he said. About 1600 wireless telephone transmission sites were taken out by the hurricane, and 600 remain down, although all wireless switching centers in the area are now operational, he said. Four television stations in the Gulf Coast region remain off the air, while three have returned to broadcasting, Martin said. Thirty-six radio stations remain off the air, while several others have returned. Senators questioned why the 911 response centers didn't reroute calls to other centers as the hurricane approached. The technology exists, Martin said, but many emergency response centers did not have a plan for rerouting calls." ------> The highlights that no one is talking about is that WISPs, VOIP, IM, and blogs (the Internet) became the primary communications services. And these services have NOTHING to do with the Baby Bells. This was a result of ISPs and CLECs. But we are still handing our digital future over to the Bells. Go Figure. Maybe FCC Martin and his cronies should have to live & work on the Gulf Coast.