[Serenoa]

One thing that I've never seen discussed here in many threads concerning cell phone service is how good is your cell service going to be if there is ever a prolonged (several days) power outage. As I'm sure most of you know most cell tower sites consist of a single tower with antennas mounted at different levels for multiple carriers ie, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. and each with their corresponding radio equipment on the ground around the tower on either a concrete pad or in an enclosed shelter. In addition to the radio cabinets, most of the major carriers (those listed above) have a battery cabinet that will provide a few hours of back-up power in case of a power outage that will keep their antennas & equipment functioning, but again, for only a few hours. After that time period, the antennas & radio cabinets for that carrier will go "down", resulting in dropped calls for any phones communicating with that cell site. To alleviate this potential problem some of the major carriers have, in addition to the battery cabinets, either diesel or LP powered back-up generators with an ATS (automatic transfer switch) at their cell sites that will provide several DAYS of instantaneous back-up power. And as long as the LP gas or diesel tanks are replenished the cell site for that particular carrier will remain "up" & running until normal power is restored. In Florida Verizon has these back-up generators at the vast majority of it's cell sites and is adding more all the time. AT&T has a small percentage; Sprint & T-Moble virtually none. And the small, small carriers such as Metro PCS have NO emergency backup whatsoever. Also Verizon & AT&T use the locked, enclosed climate-controlled equipment shelters at most of their sites which protects the expensive radio cabinets from the elements as well as vandalism, etc. The other carriers put their equipment out on concrete slabs, exposed to everything.

What I'm trying to get across here is that, like a lot of services, you get what you pay for. The smaller carriers may be cheaper & seem like a bargain, but the service provided by the bigger ones (especially Verizon) is far, far superior & much more dependable. Just something to consider when price shopping. And just for the record: I don't work directly for Verizon, AT&T or any other cell carrier.