Slashdot Mirror
T-Mobile Offers Relief for Hurricane Victims
lilrowdy18 writes "Eweek reports that T-Mobile is offering free Wi-Fi to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. This relief will be free until Sept 2 and an evaluation will be done to see if it will continue after that. The hot spots are only available to residents of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and does not include phone service. The article also includes a link to a map of T-Mobile hotspots. At least we can use some form of communication to get in touch with loved ones."
This relief will be free until Sept 2
That doesn't make any sense. Why would you only do it for 3 days and then "evaluate" whether you'll charge or not. Why in the world wouldn't you offer it for at least a week or two before evaluating? So if you are stuck in the disaster area and want to get a hold of someone that way, you've only got until Friday. After that you are out of luck or you might have to pay.
I think it's good they are helping out, but that's almost a cheap way to get some good press.
If you are a company like that and you really want to help, then go in whole-heartedly.
A man with a gun is called a citizen. A man without a gun is called a subject.
Well that's good. What people without electricity, food, drinking water, and a roof over their heads really need is internet access!
So, exactly how does someone without power get a computer working? Are they really that hard up for porn?
Hey T-mo! Stop pushing your products and instead give something that could really help. Like phone service so people can call loved ones, or cold hard cash to help bring relief.
This is just great, this is just what these people need. Free WIFI for a couple of days
Actually this is a clever PR stunt by T-Mobile, it is not like anyone actually has electricity to use these hotspots.
These victims need water, food, clothing and shelter. And of course money to rebuild, why not donate a couple days of revenue instead of free WIFI?
Fantasy World is giving free lapdances at their nearest location.. do they really need it at that hour? they could set up some more towers or join other mobile operators and provide a blanket coverage all over these states for greater accessibility (free roaming or so)
> Water has become level with the Lake
> in the city so no more water should flow
> into the city, except at high tide.
Yup, but looks like that's only because the water levels have equalized, not because the levee breaks have been plugged. Argh.
The Army reading list
While others are donating real money out of their personal pockets, T-Mobile is donating a couple of hundred dollars worth of Wi-Fi. How about handing out some of the cheap pre-paid phones with service. Or better yet, some communications centers with computers and phones that people can come and try to get a message out to their families.
A couple of trucks with personnel, generators, multiple GPRS data connections, computers and a dozen cell phones - might cost $50-60,000 (being generous). Far less than one television ad with what's-her-name, and would actually be of some use to those in Louisiana.
Oh yeah, bring some bottled water with you.
T-mobile does not have electricity, food, drinking water, or building materials. They could possibly buy such things, but it isn't what they have on hand. What they have is wireless communication services. They are a cell phone company. They are giving what they have.
I'll agree that perhaps this isn't going to be the most realistically useful thing ever. But at least they are doing something.
Yes, free cell phone service would have possibly been something that t-mobile has which would be even more useful, but there are practical barriers there. That is, most people don't have cell phones which you can just reassign to a different cell phone carrier at will, and even with phones with such features most people don't know how to use them. It seems likely either you're an existing t-mobile customer and can already use their network, or you're not easily going to be getting on their cell network anyway. Wifi may have a more limited utility than cell service, but there's fewer logistics involved in letting people use it.
In the meantime, if you or anyone else reading this is really concerned with being productive, something easy to do to help would maybe be instead of complaining on slashdot, take the time in the next couple of days to donate blood
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
But it eases the rebuilding of the levees, which is a prerequisite to pumping water out of the city.
Building a barrier in standing water is a lot easier than building one in rushing water.
Relief is what you get when someone takes over for you.
Relief is what you experience when you get something you badly needed.
Relief is what you feel when your pain is removed or reduced.
Getting free WIFI access in a few limited locations where there is no freaking power to charge a laptop (or probably even run the hotspot) is not relief, it is a PR move.
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
Now THAT is disaster aid. Thank you Cingular, you're doing a great service to the community.
T-Mobile, take a look at Cingular; they're putting you to shame. All people want to do is to tell their loved ones that they are alright. The Internet may have that capacity (if they can find their loved ones), but is a terrible medium in which to have to search, or email and hope. Phone calls will always be better in that respect.
I'm glad to hear my phone company's doing some good for a change. Money well spent I hope.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
I see all these people getting pissed at T-Mobile... it's understandable, yeah. I mean, their entire life just got blown to shit, no pun intended.
But T-Mobile is not an energy company, or a grocery store chain, or Goodwill. They are a telecommunications company, and that's what they know. Just like I'm a geek. If I were a company, I'd be doing exactly the same thing: doing what I can to help out. I wouldn't be flying helicopters, I'd be setting up communications. I have a bunch of computer hardware, not medical supplies. I wouldn't expect Motorola to jump in with Insulin, or Apple to show up at the stadium with 9k people stuck inside with fresh food -- and if they did, I bet the same shout would come up. "It's all a big PR stunt."
They're a company with a bunch of wireless access points in various cities. And now they're opening them up so you can email whoever and let them know you're okay (or look at pr0n, or troll Slashdot, or whatever).
And you're complaining about it.
I bet if their cellular network could handle it, they'd open that up, too.
(FD: I'm a T-Mobile customer.)
Cell providers (like Sprint for one) and other companies have in place mechanisms for providing account credit to allow for cost-free service for any disaster situation. The difference is they don't require wide-spread recognition for their contribution.
Okay, I said it. Open up the black clouds and clobber me with lightening (or high winds & rain?).
---
"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." Oscar Wilde
...in New Orleans alone (now that they're finally giving an honest estimate, they say there are floating corpses all over).
I'm not saying this is ANYWHERE near as bad as the 04 Tsunami, but it is pretty bad for America (where nothing ever goes wrong, right?), and it'll only get worse. Just wait for the intestinal diseases to start hitting these poor folks.
I've made my Red Cross donation, I recommend you all do so as well.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
I can understand how you may be under that misconception, however Guard units are designed to be anywhere in the world within a matter of hours. Sorry if I sound like a know it all, but this is an issue that is near and dear to my heart...h istory.html
w orld.asp
Check out a bit about our history in conflicts here: http://www.1800goguard.com/whatistheguard/whatis_
Try moving thousands of people, from a branch that was never designed to be mobile far beyond state borders Read a bit about our federal mission, if interested, here: http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/protecting_our_
then figure out which state national guards have experience/training with water rescue then coordinate the efforts of all of those remaining with no clear high level chain of command. This would take about 5 minutes. The Army is not inept, as is the common misconception. The commanders know exactly who is trained to do what...
As far as leadership:
(I'm pretty sure theres no General of the National Guard.)
see this link for structure: http://www.arng.army.mil/about_us/organization/
Director of the Army National Guard, Lieutenant General Clyde A. Vaughn
Brigadier General Frank J. Grass Deputy Director of the Army National Guard, Brigadier General Frank J. Grass
Colonel Matthew L. Murphy Chief of Staff of the Army National Guard, Colonel Matthew L. Murphy
Command Chief Warrant Officer of the Army National Guard, Chief Warrant Officer Five Poyas Haynes
Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard, Command Sgt. Maj. John D. Gipe Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard, Command Sgt. Maj. John D. Gipe
http://www.arng.army.mil/Leaders/
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
There are bodies floating all over the place in New Orleans... probably several thousand.
While I doubt that a douchebag like you gives a shit, I suggest you sit and think about the impact that the utter destruction of a city of 1.5 million has on those people. Whether its 1,000 or 50,000 or 250,000 people, its a disaster of biblical proportions.
Try setting your home on fire. See how minor of a problem it is to lose all of your possessions and your home.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK