Carriers Moving Equipment to Maui; Coverage 'Pretty Much Down,' Says County Official
Major wireless carriers said they were rushing equipment to Maui to try to restore coverage of the island lost in the wake of wildfires there last week. "West Maui is pretty much down," Tamara Paltin, Maui County councilwoman for West…
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Maui, emailed Friday. "If you see a bunch of folks looking at their phone, for some reason that area could catch, but if you go back in an hour might not happen," she said. "Biggest concern is ability to be able to communicate." She said SpaceX Starlink receivers "are running here and there" and efforts were underway to set up towers on Lanai to reach West Maui. AT&T said Friday it had deployed portable generators to cellsites affected by power outages "where it is safe to do so." "Some of our cell sites are inaccessible at this time due to the fires, however, our teams continue to plan for immediate restoration efforts," it said. It said its network disaster recovery team and FirstNet Response Operations Group "are working with local public safety to deploy a locally based portable cell site to provide Band 14 connectivity dedicated to public safety and service for residents." It said it also was shipping backhaul equipment and other portable communications solutions from the neighboring islands. It said the FirstNet group was "working around the clock to support public safety’s emergency communications and has liaisons engaged with local and federal agencies." T-Mobile said its emergency management team was preparing to deploy portable satellite and microwave solutions to restore service in affected areas "when it is safe to do so." It said its cellsites were "holding up well during the fires," but power outages could affect customers. Verizon said it had emergency network assets, including mobile cellsites, en route to Maui. IT said it was deploying satellite-based mobile hot spots in evacuation centers.