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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (3443)	9/13/2001 1:44:03 PM
From: S100	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12239

Manhattan Telecom Network Was Severely Damaged in Attack By DEBORAH SOLOMON and SHAWN YOUNG Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL NEW YORK -- The destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers seriously damaged one of Manhattan's largest telecommunications facilities, likely prolonging the restoration of phone and data service to much of Wall Street and as well as companies in lower Manhattan. While phone service across the Northeast improved Wednesday, calls to and from parts of New York City continued to experience problems as damaged equipment lay idle and the volume of calls remained about 9% higher than normal. See full coverage of the attack. * * * See a special report on how technology -- from e-mail to camcorders to cellphones -- affected the way the world learned of the disaster. We also look at how the technology infrastructure is holding up. Wireless service was also spotty because of cellular-site outages suffered by several of the major wireless providers, including Sprint Corp.'s PCS Group and Verizon Wireless. The wireless problems were exacerbated by flooding that occurred at one of Verizon Communications Inc.'s damaged facilities in Manhattan. Several wireless carriers, including Verizon and AT&T Wireless Services Inc., route calls through equipment in that facility. Verizon said 11 of its cell sites were out of service in the wake of Tuesday's attack, and Sprint PCS said four of its cell sites were not working in the immediate disaster area. The wireless woes were compounded by commercial power outages across Manhattan, which knocked out service. The worst damage to the land-line network appears to have struck Verizon, the New York-based phone giant, which noted the attacks were perpetrated in one of "the most telecom-intensive areas in the world." The company maintains 500,000 phone lines below 14th Street in lower Manhattan and more than six million private, or dedicated, circuits that it provides to corporations for phone and data use. Lawrence Babbio, vice chairman of Verizon, said the explosions that brought down parts of the World Trade Center complex also affected two facilities that provide communications service to the New York Stock Exchange, as well as other financial institutions and residential customers in lower Manhattan. Three other Verizon facilities are also located in the vicinity of the attacks but were not badly damaged. Mr. Babbio said the biggest damage sustained was to Verizon's central office facility at 140 West St., which was adjacent to 7 World Trade Center. The 7 World Trade Center building collapsed late Tuesday afternoon, plowing steel beams through Verizon's facility and ripping open the side of the building. The damage caused severe flooding, and Mr. Babbio said much of the telecom equipment in the building was covered in water, oil and soot, making it inoperable. Restoring service to the facility is likely to take "an extended" period of time because " the extent of the work we have to do here is just enormous," said Mr. Babbio. Mr. Babbio declined to be specific about how much time it would take. The problems extend beyond Verizon, however, and are affecting almost all other carriers that provide local and long-distance service in lower Manhattan. That is because those companies must connect to the equipment in Verizon's central office in order to get their service to customers. Until the problem is fixed, Mr. Babbio said, Verizon has rolled out pay phones for customers to use free of charge in lower Manhattan and has laid cable above ground to help reroute phone traffic. Another Verizon building on Broad Street, which provides most of the phone service to the New York Stock Exchange, was suffering from intermittent power outages. Verizon, which also services the Pentagon, said its equipment there suffered some damage, but said much of its switching equipment was still functioning. Most other carriers said service appeared to slowly be returning to normal in all areas outside lower Manhattan. AT&T Corp., the nation's largest long-distance company, said call volume hit a record high Tuesday, with 431 million calls placed over its network. Normal call volume is about 300 million calls. Traffic remained high Wednesday, but was only about 9% above normal volume, said AT&T spokesman Dave Johnson. Sprint Corp., the No. 3 long-distance provider, said its network is operational, but said customers calling New York City were having difficulty completing their calls because of damage to equipment that Sprint uses. Wireless traffic also appeared to be returning to normal everywhere except New York City, according to the wireless carriers. Most of the carriers lost cell sites in the wake of the attack and were rolling out "COWS" -- cell sites on wheels -- to help accommodate the volume of calls. Still, cell service is likely to continue to be spotty in much of New York City, especially lower Manhattan, for the next several days. Until the volume of calls returns to normal and the ruined equipment is repaired, the telecommunications network is likely to experience additional hiccups. interactive.wsj.com