Earthquakes and cell phones

There was a moderate earthquake in the Bay Area last night. No injuries reported. The epicenter was in San Jose - over 60 miles away, so no damage in San Francisco. I was in the car when it happened and the person on the radio was reporting it in real time. That was kinda cool.

Predictably, cell phone service was effected for about 30 minutes after the quake. Most people wonder why this is. Simply put, too many people are calling into and out of cell phones when major events happen like this. It overloads the capacity on the network. Since cell phones communicate with antennae closest to your proximity (technical term for the antennae are "cell sites"), anyone placing or receiving a call near you is sharing the same cell site resource. Cell sites have a limited number of connections (technical term is "channels"). When cell phone traffic spikes to many times normal traffic like after an earthquake, the system does not have any open channels to place your call.

One way around this is text messaging. To reach a person during an emergency, text, don't call. Text messaging operates separate from voice channels and can accommodate much more traffic simultaneously. Bottom line, it's a better bet when you absolutely need to contact someone.

Finally, all of this rolling and rocking brings to light the importance of being prepared for the next big one. If you live in the Bay Area, you and your family need to have a disaster plan. This includes having enough food and water rations available and to have a meeting plan in case you are separated with your family. At minimum. The city and county of San Francisco has a marvelous online resource: 72Hours.org.