Wireless Networks Cope With High Volume Of Calls During Obama Inauguration

January 21, 2009 1:57 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The wireless networks of four major U.S. cellular carriers handled calls of millions of people who flocked to Washington, D.C. for President Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday.

Only difficulty in calling people within the D.C. area and delayed arrival of text messages were the complaints of mobile phone users as temporary cell-phone towers deployed in the capital by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile helped prevent networks from getting too congested and crashing. The carriers also redirected call traffic to less-congested towers to lessen the strain on their networks.

Wireless service was disrupted four hours before Obama's swearing-in but the networks restored it within one hour.

AT&T and T-Mobile said they handled three to five times the normal volume of calls. But Mark Siegel, AT&T Mobility spokesman, said their network performed well on inauguration day.

"Even in the most crowded spectator areas nearest the inauguration stands at the U.S. Capitol, the vast majority of calls" went through "on the first attempt," Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Debra Lewis said, according to Msnbc.com.