AT&T Making Solid Progress in Restoration Efforts for Customers

DALLAS, Nov. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T response teams continue to make good progress in restoring wireless and wireline services across areas in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Across the impacted region, nearly 97 percent of our cell sites are up and running.

More than 90 percent of our cell sites across New York City including Manhattan are back in service, up from 80 percent on Thursday. We expect to make continued good progress as power and other infrastructure issues are resolved.

Additional resources continue shifting to the hardest-hit areas of New York and New Jersey as our network service has been restored to normal or near-normal operational levels in other areas, including: Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

Ongoing Restoration & Resource Deployment:

Thousands of AT&T employees are working around-the-clock to repair damage, coordinate critical logistics, care for customers, and restore service. AT&T continues using a wide- range of solutions where possible, including:

• Temporary Cell Sites: Placement of Cells on Wheels (COWs) and Cells on Light Trucks (COLTs) throughout the affected area to fill-in and enhance coverage. These temporary cell sites, some that are satellite linked, provide voice and data service for customers.
• Power Supply: Deployment of over 3,000 generators in the impacted area to support our wireless and wireline facilities.
• Fuel Supply: Utilization of over 70 trucks to keep the fuel flowing for service vehicles and generators, which is critical to ongoing restoration efforts.  
• Emergency Assets: Deployment of other emergency network assets and personnel from AT&T's Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) team, which is one of the industry's largest and most advanced response programs.
• Roaming Agreement: Exercising a special agreement with T-Mobile to enable roaming across both companies' networks seamlessly and free of charge to customers with compatible devices and where capacity is available.
• Retail Store Charging Stations: People in affected areas are invited to visit any of AT&T's approximately 400 retail store locations now open through the Northeast, as well as temporary mobile charging stations, to charge their devices. Extra charging strips are in place in many stores and customers of any wireless carrier can come in to charge their devices.
• Late Payment Support: AT&T will extend the late-payment window for wireless and wireline customers who are behind, waive late payment fees and will not disconnect services because of non-payment. 
• Logistics Coordination: Close coordination with state and local officials, power and other service providers, and emergency response teams, monitoring service disruptions and coordinating our ongoing restoration efforts.

AT&T also continues working with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City of New York by deploying generator-driven charging stations and RVs with charging capabilities for New Yorkers at local Food and Water Stations being set up throughout the five boroughs. 

Additional Support of Relief Efforts:

The AT&T Foundation has provided $500,000 in grants, including a $250,000 national grant to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund, and another $250,000 in local grants.

Also, AT&T wireless customers can make a $10 donation for Hurricane Sandy relief by texting to the following non- profit organizations:

• REDCROSS to 90999 to support the American Red Cross
• STORM to 80888 to help the Salvation Army
• HUMANE to 80888 to give to the American Humane Society

Customers who would like to contribute more can text up to five times for a total donation of $50. One hundred percent of any donation will be paid to the customer's designated charity and the customer will be charged for the donation via the customer's monthly AT&T bill.

For more information on our efforts related to Hurricane Sandy, visit http://att.com/vitalconnections

About AT&T -- AT&T Inc. T is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's largest 4G network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse^® and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.