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Hurricane-ravaged Florida communities, such as Mexico Beach, are struggling to recover, in part because of poor cell phone service.
Gerald Herbert / AP
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Gerald Herbert / AP
Hurricane-ravaged Florida communities, such as Mexico Beach, are struggling to recover, in part because of poor cell phone service.
Gerald Herbert / AP
Updated at 20:23 ET
Residents of Florida who are still trying to replenish their lives after the passage of Hurricane Michael do not have an indispensable tool: a reliable mobile phone service.
In the midst of reports of ongoing and widespread failures, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, is calling for an investigation into the problem. It also asks mobile operators to waive October bills from Florida customers in cyclone-affected areas.
"While restoration efforts in communication services are bearing fruit in most areas affected by Hurricane Michael, the slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to those caused by the hurricane is still noticeable. Hurricane is totally unacceptable, "Pai said in a statement.
Pai said that he had regular contact with mobile phone companies and that he feared that they had not acted urgently.
"I therefore join Governor Scott in calling on mobile operators to waive Floridian bills in the affected areas by October and allow them to switch providers without penalty." These operators must also immediately reveal publicly to the Floridians how they will do it … quickly restore the service, "he added.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott is in the final days of a race for the US Senate against Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.
The FCC has also released this report on the state of communications services for areas affected by Michael.
It is said that in Bay County, more than 60% of cell sites are still out of service. Bay County includes the highly affected jurisdictions of Mexico Beach and Panama City Beach. In Gulf County, more than 40% of cell sites are still down.
Michael Balmoris, an AT & T spokesman, said his company had deployed 15 large-scale portable cell sites in areas most affected by storms. She had already begun to grant credits and to remove the overpayment fees for clients.
"Before the storm, we announced and put in place credits for our clients, starting October 10th, credits were granted to customers in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gulf, Liberty, Taylor and Wakulla Counties. we plan to extend these credits until October 21st.stand will continue according to the conditions, "he said in an email.
Verizon spokesman Ronan Dunne said the company "is 100% focused on repairing its network in the Florida Panhandle."
"Every Verizon customer in the Bay and Gulf countries will automatically be credited with 3 months of mobile service for each line.This free service is intended for consumer and business accounts," he added in an email.
John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile tweeted that his company offers customers in the affected areas "data, SMS and free calls from 10/10".
Sprint said that from October 10 to 18, it will "eliminate call charges, SMS and data overruns." Customers who already benefit from Unlimited plans will continue to enjoy unlimited calling benefits. , texts and data ".
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