Milton Preparations and Helene Recovery Continuing
Communications providers are taking steps to prepare for Hurricane Milton while recovery from Hurricane Helene continues. SpaceX and T-Mobile have accelerated the rollout of Starlink direct-to-device connectivity for hurricane-affected areas, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote Wednesday on X. SpaceX posted…
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that it and T-Mobile have activated SpaceX's D2D satellites to provide emergency alerts for phones in hurricane-affected areas. The D2D activation comes atop more than 10,000 Starlink kits delivered in response to Hurricane Helene, it said. SpaceX has enabled SMS testing for people on T-Mobile phones in hurricane-affected areas, it said. In addition, it said users "may have to manually retry text messages if they don't go through at first, as this is being delivered on a best-effort basis." T-Mobile said it had activated its emergency operations and preparedness plan in anticipation of Milton. That work, it said, includes emergency response teams preparing portable generators and network equipment to provide support. Its emergency response teams also are working with federal and state public safety agencies and Florida's State Emergency Operations Center to identify early prioritization needs following the storm. The carrier also said it has temporarily closed stores and other operations in Milton's path. Verizon said it was staging its mobile network solutions fleet, including portable generators and satellite assets, as part of prep for Milton. It said it had readied network engineers and crisis response team members to deploy to the region and begin restoration work as soon as it is safe. Multiple wireless carriers said they were temporarily waiving some charges and fees for hurricane-impacted areas. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's communications strike team is ready to support local law enforcement agencies in ensuring 911, internet and radio communications work after Milton, according to the governor's office. Wednesday's disaster information reporting system update showed 11% of cellsites down in the North Carolina and Tennessee counties affected by Hurricane Helene, an improvement over the 12.5% reported down Tuesday. Wednesday's report listed 68,602 cable and wireline subscribers without service in the affected counties, compared with 84,085 Tuesday. The report also listed two TV stations out of service, both in North Carolina. DIRS reports for Hurricane Milton are due to the FCC starting Thursday morning.