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Inauguration Day Traffic Clogs Cell Phone Networks

by Darren Murph on January 21, 2009 at 05:15 PM


We can't see how this is shocking to anyone who has tried to make or receive a phone call on New Year's Eve (right around midnight, in particular), but cellular networks in the Metro DC area were pretty much bombarded yesterday. The inauguration of America's 44th president brought most networks to their knees, though most carriers reported that interruptions were relatively minimal. AT&T made sure to bump its 3G capacity by 80 percent and its 2G capacity by 69-percent along the parade route, and while a spokesperson did admit that it experienced "some congestion" during the events, customers were generally able to get through. In all honesty, we expected reports to be much more negative than this given the incredible amount of people shoved into one place, so we suppose a round of golf claps is in order for the carriers responsible for anticipating the surge.

[Image courtesy of Zimbio]

Tags: att, barack obama, BarackObama, Inauguration, network, networks, obama, overload, strain

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