Congestion causes text message slowdown

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 4, 6:11 AM ET

NEW YORK - Geeta Citygirl just figured something was wrong with her phone when she realized the greetings she was sending as the ball dropped New Year's Eve weren't getting through. In Los Angeles, a half-dozen New Year's text messages bounced back to Reggie Cameron on Wednesday, more than 24 hours after he thought he sent them out.

In fact, so many people tried to send text messages on New Year's Eve that networks got jam-packed and many of the missives arrived hours later — or not at all.

The rest of this article is here.

My Analysis: In Carson City Nevada about two years ago, the cell and landline phones were jampacked because of a problem in Las Vegas area. There were so many people trying to call the state offices in Carson City that the phone system went down.

I knew of the problem because my cell phone was down. I went to the Cingular offices (before they became AT$T)and complained. They called their tech guys. They couldn't tell that the node was down. It was at this time that I found out that they had one cell phone node feeding the entire Carson City area (50,000 people).

So even though cell phones have been touted as a great emergency communications device, DO NOT believe the hype. They are the first network that goes down.

It would be better to be prepared with an FRS radio for those without an amateur radio license. AND, it would be the best to have an amateur radio license with equipment.