As Hurricane Sandy descends on the eastern seaboard, everyone is scrambling to stay safe. People are evacuating low-lying areas, securing loose equipment, taping up their windows. The wireless carriers have another tip. Use text messages rather than phone calls to communicate with your loved ones.
According to an article on NBCNews.com, text messages are easier on your phone battery, and don’t tie up network traffic as much as a voice call. That leaves the carriers open to handle a greater volume of traffic – including vital calls to emergency service providers.
The article quotes a Verizon Wireless prepared statement:
“Limit non-emergency calls to save battery power and free up wireless networks for emergency workers and operations and send brief text messages instead…When the network gets busy, texts have a higher chance of getting through the first time and can be more efficient.”