US telcos step up to support those affected by California fires

Strong winds and dry conditions have combined to ignite vegetation on the many hills in and around LA and spread that fire into parts of the city. The extent of the damage caused is genuinely shocking, with entire blocks of housing and infrastructure consumed. The question of how this has been allowed to happen will be explored in the fullness of time but the immediate priority is helping those affected.

As with all disasters, natural or otherwise, the main role of telecoms companies in this context is to maintain methods of communication. The three big US telcos – AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile – have all offered updates on the measures they have put in place specifically for this event.

The most novel of these concerns the direct-to-device (or direct-to-cell, as they refer to it in the US) service that T-Mobile and Starlink opened up for beta-testing less than a month ago. “Today T-Mobile and Starlink opened up T-Mobile Starlink Direct-to-Cellular service over impacted areas of Southern California to deliver wireless emergency alerts and SMS and enable 911 texting,” announced the company yesterday. Starlink is also making its core base-station service available as per the tweet below.

One of AT&T’s main jobs at times like this is to maintain the FirstNet emergency response network. On top of that, the company detailed some other measures it has put in place. As well as disaster response specialists, it even has its own team of meteorologists to keep on top of the weather situation. Verizon, in common with its contemporaries, is waiving all call and data charges in the affected areas for the time being.

Events like these are perhaps the most critical use-case for satellite mobile telephony. While we have no doubt that all operators are doing everything they can to maintain their services, having satellite to fall back on is an important new option. The ideal is for satellites to offer 4G levels of bandwidth direct to devices, a capability that still seems to be a long way off, but the ability to at least text is presumably a lot better than nothing for those affected.