Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Jeff Carlson Reveals How Cell Carriers Handle Disasters and Mega-Events Adam Engst Our friend Jeff Carlson has been writing for CNET for a while, with several recent articles that are fascinating for those curious about how our communications infrastructure handles natural disasters and large-scale public events. At the Las Vegas F1 race, he spoke with AT&T about[1]FirstNet, which provides dedicated spectrum for first responders in the event that primary communication channels are overwhelmed. He visited T-Mobile's headquarters to see (and photograph) [2]the company's emergency response equipment: big trucks (SatCOLTs'satellite cells on light trucks), trailers (SatCOWs'satellite cells on wheels), drones, and RVs, among other things. Then, the recent record-breaking floods in the Pacific Northwest gave him a chance to ask T-Mobile's emergency response teams [3]what keeps them awake at night. It's reassuring to know these communication alternatives exist'I suspect most of us never think about them until our phones stop working. [4]Read original article References 1. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/las-vegas-first-responders-lean-on-at-ts-firstnet-to-stay-connected-during-the-f1-race/ 2. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/inside-t-mobile-emergency-response/ 3. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/this-is-what-keeps-t-mobiles-emergency-response-teams-awake-at-night/ 4. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/inside-t-mobile-emergency-response/ .