As Subtropical Storm Nicole approaches Florida, Verizon is ready

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the heels of Hurricane Ian, Florida is once again bracing for tropical weather, and Verizon is ready to keep the community and first responders in Florida connected. Teams of Verizon engineers, completing recovery work from Hurricane Ian, are already deployed throughout the sunshine state. They have completed maintenance and upgrades on assets that were used extensively throughout the past two months, and have supplemented that fleet of equipment with other mobile assets from other parts of the country. Mobile equipment has been pre-staged, fueling teams are on standby and operations teams have completed pre-incident preparations. Verizon Frontline and the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team also stand ready to provide first responders on the front lines of response efforts with the mission-critical communications support they need.

“We are here for Florida,” said Kyle Malady, EVP and President, Global Networks and Technology. “We know the community is still reeling from Hurricane Ian and the threat of more critical weather is not the news anyone wants to hear. But Verizon will be here for Florida through this storm season and through the recovery time to come.   We are absolutely committed to providing Floridians the reliability and advanced technology they have come to expect from Verizon before, during and after the storms.”

Verizon’s networks are prepared to keep people connected

Recognized repeatedly for reliability, Verizon’s extreme network is designed to withstand extreme weather and delivers superior service by including redundancy on critical paths and components to avoid a potential failure of a network component significantly affecting customers. The use of battery and generator backup systems in critical locations such as macro cell sites, switch locations and network operations centers also serves to minimize the risk of disruption if commercial power is lost. 100% of Verizon macro cell sites have backup battery power and 78% have backup generators nationally, and that number is higher in hurricane-prone areas like Florida. Verizon engineers have been preparing for the coming storm by ensuring fuel levels are high on all generators at cell sites, testing battery back-ups at network facilities, positioning extra equipment in case additional capacity is needed, and prepping emergency crews to respond quickly to any network issue. These are just a few of the reasons Verizon’s network is the network America relies on, in good times and bad.