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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."
I had a friend, located in Biloxi, MS contact me via SMS this morning to let me know that he and his family were all ok. Their house and their cars were flooded out. He had to turn off the mobile after a couple messages to conserve energy.
Now, I saw this story ahead of time (and t-mobile's site was already snail slow) but I got to the page for Mississippi. My SMS to him:
t-mobile is offering free wifi to hurricane victims: Flowood (Borders),
Kinkos (Hattiesburg & Jackson), and Starbucks (Ridgeland & Southaven)
Now, after I sent it, I thought about it. In the entire state of MS they have *5* wifi hotspots? Are these locations operational? Will they offer some electric draw for those that need it?
I really think it's great that t-mobile is offering this to those people affected by the storm but so few locations and many w/o power? What good can it really do? Skype, where are you?
Most of these people would probably prefer telephone service over Internet access. Luckily this guy was able to e-mail via SMS and get in touch w/those that care about him.
I'm just glad that one of the people I know from the area is ok and I wish all those affected by the storm the best of luck for a speedy and safe recovery.
I have put up a mirror of locations in text format. Hopefully this will be easier to disseminate.
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.
We may not have a house, a vehicle, or any earthly posessions for that matter, but at least we have free WiFi with our frappuccino!
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?
T-mobile does realize that there's no power, right?
If they want to help, they can get more manpower working on the phone system. I evacuated from New Orleans to north Alabama, and my t-mobile phone service has been spotty at best. I haven't been able to make outgoing calls for the last 3 days and I've only been able to get a few incoming calls.
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Another option is to go meet your friendly neighbor ham radio op. I'm sure there is an emergency net operating right now.
Krispy Kreme is offering residents whose homes were destroyed a chance to win a free dozen donuts.
Similarly, Pizza Hut is offering a Buy-1-Get-1-Free offer for anyone who lives in New Orleans (good until tomorrow morning).
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
I'm sure this will help many people deal with the emergency by using the net to communicate.. an interesting side effect, since phone service isn't provided, is people will probably use more VOIP programs such as Skype, which are an alternative to T-Mobile's regular service..
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)
Army Corps of Engineers: water is no longer flowing into New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain
A coworker told me that he has been using Nextel to communicate with people in the area without any problems whatsoever. Not free, but he said it works.
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It's better than going to Six Flags. Free Admission to KATRINA Evacuees Over Labor Day Weekend http://www.sixflags.com/parks/astroworld/ParkPress /Katrina.html
Hey! House under water? Everything you own destroyed? Come eat overpriced food, spend your last $80 and watch other people have fun!
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
Cingular Wireless has set up free emergency calling stations at its open company-owned retail stores across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to help the many individuals and families who are without power and phone service due to Hurricane Katrina.
Free phone calls to friends and family anywhere in the United States can be made at Cingular stores during normal store hours. The calling stations are available to anyone who simply needs to use a phone.
The company has also set up a free mobile calling station at the Cajundome in Lafayette where thousands of evacuees are being housed.
All Cingular stores will offer free calls as they open.
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/
Thanks for the informative and insightful post.
But, "[Apple.com and Amazon.com] have a real opportunity to stem the relief effort tide now rather than later.
If they don't stop the relief efforts now, no one will!
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Office Depot: $1m
BP: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
Capital One: $1m cash
Anheuser-Busch: $250K cash + 875K cans of water
Eli Lilly: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations + $1m in insulin
Kellogg: $500k cash and food
Home Depot: $1.5m cash
Wal-Mart: $1m cash
Exxon Mobil: $2m cash
Amerada Hess: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
Chevron: $5m cash
JP Morgan Chase: $1m cash + $/$ match of employee donations
DuPont: $1m cash
GM: $400k cash + vehicles
Culligan: 5 semi trailers of water
CVS: $250K cash + $254K in food and water
~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
In related news, Taco Bell has announced that if the water level in New Orleans reaches a certain mark on their Taco Bell FloodMeter(tm), everyone in America wins a free taco.
Celebrate the finer things in life
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
Logistics, management and coordination would be a nightmare.
um, the National Guard is an organization designed with logistics, management and coordination in mind. National Guard units get deployed all over the world in fact. They are mobile and I'd say they likely have a very good idea of what units have the required training, as that would be critical tactical information.
no clear high level chain of command. (I'm pretty sure theres no General of the National Guard.)
The National Guard is part of the Army. They probably have the most structured chain of command in the world. You are right about not having a general though, he's just a Lt. General (Lieutenant General Clyde A. Vaughn
you're all figments of my deranged imagination