Overland Park, Kan. – June 21, 2017 – Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings) is closely monitoring Tropical Storm Cindy, and making extensive preparations to protect its wireless network ahead of widespread flooding and to help keep customers’ wirelessly connected. Some of the measures Sprint has taken to prepare include:
- Investing millions of dollars in new cell site equipment, back-up batteries and greater fiber backhaul across Gulf Coast states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
- Utilizing established Disaster Recovery yards throughout the region to store and stage assets for response during an event.
- Performing routine maintenance checks and fueling fixed and portable generators in the event commercial power fails.
- Pre-staging dozens of vehicles and crews across the southern region in anticipation of the storm.
- Standing ready to deploy incident management teams as needed to assess impacted areas and inspect local wireless networks after the event
Sprint’s Emergency Response Team has activated its 25/14 Disaster Support Program where States of Emergency have been declared. Sprint maintains approximately 10,000 devices in its inventory to provide communications equipment, such as handsets and mobile broadband devices to government, tribal, non-governmental, and private sector organizations.
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Additionally, Sprint ERT can rapidly deploy temporary cellular and broadband (internet access) solutions through mobile satellite infrastructure. Whether for remote operations or for restoring connectivity to the business, organizations requiring temporary equipment and/or network support can contact Sprint’s ERT Dedicated Support Line at 888-639-0020.
To help wireless consumers prepare for a storm this season, Sprint offers these tips to help ensure residents in the path of Tropical Storm Cindy stay safe:
- Keep wireless phones and backup batteries charged, but be aware that an interruption of wireline and commercial power could affect wireless calls.
- If possible, have extra batteries on hand and charged.
- In times of commercial power outages, a car adapter for your wireless phone should enable you to recharge the battery.
- Keep phones and necessary accessories in a sealed plastic bag to avoid water damage during flooding.
- Load family and emergency numbers into your wireless phone.
- Use your Sprint camera phone to take digital pictures or video of your property and valuables before the storm hits. Upload the images to your cloud so you have “before” pictures in the event of any storm damage.
- Wireless networks sometimes experience heavy traffic during emergency events, so remember to send a text message.
Store these emergency and weather-related apps on your phones:
- In Case of Emergency (ICE) – This app provides EMTs with critical personal and medical data including name, important notification telephone numbers, blood type, allergies, physician’s name and number, and existing medical conditions.
- First Aid – American Red Cross – This app offers concise, clear instructions with advice on offering first aid. It includes illustrations, videos and step-by-step advice that show how to take the necessary action in the correct order.
- 911 Help SMS – Shows family members your location when you’re calling 911 for help via text and email.
- WeatherBug – Find out the current local weather, hourly and seven-day forecasts. WeatherBug features live neighborhood weather updates from weather stations across the U.S.–including NWS weather alerts such as tornado warnings.
- Storm Radar with NOAA Weather & Severe Warning – Interactive map with 8 hours of high-definition past to future radar, advanced storm cell tracking, and real-time severe weather alerts. View current weather conditions or daily and hourly forecasts.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served 59.7 million connections as of March 31, 2017 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past five years. You can learn more and visit Sprint atwww.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
Media Contacts:
Roni Singleton, Sprint – East Area
404-649-8354
eronia.singleton@sprint.com
John Votava, Sprint – West Area
949-242-9017
John.2.Votava@sprint.com
Adrienne Norton, Sprint – National
425-256-7014
adrienne.norton@sprint.com
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