[beenBoutIT]

Have California cell networks gotten to the point where they'll be able to handle the mass calling that follows disasters? Curious how people will contact emergency services and friends/family in the critical time following an earthquake/fire/etc.

[tjohns]

Not if the power goes out. Unlike landlines (which are required to have generators at the central office), cell towers are only required to have a battery backup that lasts a couple hours.

When we had the rolling blackouts in the bay area a few years ago, Comcast's cable network was the first to go, but the cell network didn't last much longer.

[foolfoolz]

for the most part, things are much better than they were 10 years ago. you can go to a baseball/football game and your phone works. you can go to a concert and your phone works. a big part of this has been capacity upgrades, protocol upgrades, and a shift from telecom traffic to internet traffic

it has always been difficult to contact emergency services following an earthquake / massive fire. it might actually be more scalable now. and you have more options of who/how to contact

[ocdtrekkie]

At this point the problem is likely less technical than limited manpower to actually answer phones when the call volume goes up 5000%.

[fragmede]

it works at a football game because they know about it and send in extra equipment to handle it.

[kalleboo]

My test always used to be midnight, new years eve, when everyone wanted to say happy new year at the same time.

On 2G/GSM, the whole network would drop for 30 minutes, just zero reception on the phone.

On 3G, you'd have reception but calls were impossible and texts mostly failed.

On 3G+HSDPA, texts also worked fine but data became unusable as people sent fireworks photos

On early 4G, not much changed from HSDPA since the networks were busier from more people using smartphones and social media

On LTE Advanced and 5G it's all a non-event now, everything works fine