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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."
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
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.
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