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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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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
Anheuser-Busch: $250K cash + 875K cans of water
Say what you like about their "beer", Anheuser-Busch has a long history of switching their closest functional production line to canning water, and delivering it *right now*.
After the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Red Cross barely had the shelters opened when trucks from A-B started showing up.
-Z
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
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