FCC Expected to Investigate Communications Problems Following Boston Bombings

"When the unexpected and unthinkable occurs our networks can get overwhelmed,” Rosenworcel said Tuesday. “This can impede our ability to reach out for help and reach out to family and friends when we need assistance most. We know that texting can be a more reliable way to communicate in times of crisis -- and we need to do more to make this clear to the public. At the same time, we need to better understand what happened here so when trouble strikes we are better prepared and more safe."

"This is a recurring problem with the wireless networks,” said a former agency official who expects the FCC to investigate. “The commission has done that in the past and I have no doubt that they'll do that again, especially with their focus on encouraging everyone to use mobile broadband. It has to be reliable. … I don’t know [what] the next step is, but I think everything is moving in the direction between the Congress and the FCC that they have to step in and not just monitor. There has to be some sort of authority to ensure reliability."

A second FCC official also expects the FCC to investigate. “While the surge in call volume created outages that were different in nature from the outages caused by Hurricane Sandy, the end results for consumers were the same,” the official said. “I would be surprised if the commission doesn’t look into this further just as it did after the 2011 earthquakes in the Washington, D.C., area. Both natural and manmade disasters can cause extreme stress on the communications infrastructure. The commission can seek ways of improving how surges are handled."

But Richard Bennett, senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, questioned what more carriers could do. “The only way to ensure that networks don’t suffer from overload during disasters is to massively over-provision them, and that would have an impact on the monthly bill that nobody would like,” Bennett said. “As we transition away from a mostly wired telephone network to a mostly wireless one, some habits will need to change. Text messages and tweets are a better way for people to communicate the fact that they're OK than phone calls, for instance, and they don’t overload networks."

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said carriers can take additional steps to avoid outages like those Monday. “I think it needs to go into our overall preparedness and resilience planning,” Feld said. “There are ways to think creatively about addressing this that do not translate into just building more capacity. For example, if we deploy mobile hot spots instead of mobile [cell on wheels], we can deploy more quickly and with a technology, Wi-Fi, that is usable regardless of carrier. Education campaigns and public service announcements during a crisis are also important, so we do not have the confusion we had yesterday.” Social media also has a role to play, Feld said. “We should embrace this as a potentially valuable tool to calm panic and stop the spread of false rumors, rather than look on this as a drain on the system,” he said. “If nothing else, we should recognize that our efforts to shut it down are about as useful as efforts to hold back the tide."

Verizon Wireless’s network was back to normal in Boston by Monday evening, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. “Verizon Wireless has been enhancing network voice capacity to enable additional calling in the Copley Square area of Boston,” the company said in a statement Monday. “Customers are advised to use text or email to free up voice capacity for public safety officials at the scene. There was no damage to the Verizon Wireless network, which is seeing elevated calling and data usage throughout the region since the explosions occurred."

AT&T is not providing information on its call volume Monday in the Boston area after the explosions, a spokesman said. “Thinking of those at #BostonMarathon,” AT&T tweeted at around 5:30 p.m. EDT Monday. “For those in the area, please use text & we ask that you keep non-emergency calls to a minimum."

Sprint Nextel had already augmented its capacity along the route of the race, a spokeswoman said. “Minus some mild call blocking on our Boston network due to above normal call volume and traffic, our service operated normally,” she said. “When this occurs, customers can still make and receive calls, but it might take a second or third attempt for the call to go through. In cases like this, we recommend that customers text rather than call. Text messages are more than likely to transmit with a very minimal to no delay, and network capacity will be free for law enforcement, first responders and emergency medical personnel."

"Ahead of the Boston Marathon yesterday, capacity on the T-Mobile network was boosted to support the increased number of people expected in the area,” T-Mobile said Tuesday. “Traffic on the network increased late in the day, but overall the network performed well. Today, the T-Mobile engineering team continues to closely monitor and manage the network to maintain a high level of service to customers.”