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smartphones we love talking about them we love reviewing them we love them but we don't always talk about the network architecture required to support these devices particularly in times of calamity natural disaster terrorist attack or what have you well today in Hartford Connecticut we're going to show you a little bit about how a national carrier prepares for those situations I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is your guided tour of the AT&T disaster recovery team so imagine you're in the middle of a hurricane and your cell phone service fails or you're trying to get in touch with family in a disaster area and can't get through being out of touch is a scary thing in our ultra connected world it can be expensive for businesses and dangerous for those inside disaster areas that's why AT&T formed the network disaster recovery team which was first fully deployed thirteen years ago in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks the team's mission to get you reconnected as quickly as possible following an event that damages the network in a worst case scenario the disaster recovery team can replicate the functionality of an entire disabled or destroyed central office to do this takes a lot of hardware the large scale ndr exercise we're visiting in Hartford involves about 30 pieces of major equipment out of about 320 available nationally and between 70 to 80 personnel on the ground the hardware comes in from undisclosed locations strategically placed around the country and the people from within ATS workforce all of them having volunteered for disaster recovery duty this is a broad look at how the carrier gets communications up and running after a major disaster at the first 80 vehicle to arrive on site after a calamity is often the ecv or emergency communications vehicle the ECB is topped by a satellite antenna for backhaul and it can use that connection to produce its own Wi-Fi hotspots or even a micro cell for cellular communication because of the limited bandwidth of the satellite connection it won't replace an entire central office on its own but it can help first responders stay connected with one another five of these ECB's were set up in the impacted area after Hurricane sandy providing temporary Internet access to responders and victims this one supports the administrative needs of the entire 7280 person camp here at Hartford running that camp is a bigger job which calls for a bigger trailer the operations trailer serves as the command and control center for the entire encampment here the people coordinating disaster recovery can allocate personnel depending on what work needs to get done using microwave satellite or even older HF radio technology the ops trailer coordinates with the AT&T global network operation center in New Jersey to ensure that the ndr team is working on the most critical elements of a damaged Network the operation is conducted in accordance with the National Incident Management System providing a consistent experience between AT&T personnel and first responders actually restoring those communications takes specialized equipment depending on what's been knocked offline if cellular base stations better known as towers are down AT&T can call on its fleet of Sat Colts within a few hours of arriving at a disaster area 2 or 3 nd our team members can activate this cell site on a light truck to replace damaged or destroyed cellular towers blanketing an area in 3G connectivity for AT&T customers at t-mobile customers can also connect for emergency calls or other calls and extreme circumstances but because this is an HS PA only vehicle the Verizon and Sprint customers need to rely on their own carriers emergency preparedness wireless service isn't all that 18t provides of course and it's not all the nd our team focuses on either replacing a disabled central office also requires restoring landline data connectivity and that's where the IP trailers come in the - we toured and Hartford operate on different Hardware due to a TTS network architecture but they both do the same job replace damaged network connections so the carrier subscribers in and around affected areas can communicate again to do all this takes a lot of power while most everything in the nd our camp runs on big batteries for continuity of service those batteries are charged by a variety of means if electrical power is still available inside the disaster area the team can plug in using its power distribution trailer to convert and parcel out that electricity if not this nd our team can call on a 600 kilowatt diesel generator and/or to 375 kilowatt units with fuel provided by vendors based on prearranged contracts there's even a trailer for logistical support kind of a hardware store for the entire ndr camp everything from lubricating oil to batteries to bug spray is housed here alongside a machine shop for a quick fabrication of simple parts sometimes a network's equipment isn't destroyed but instead rendered hazardous to humans this happened in graniteville South Carolina during a train derailment in 2005 when chlorine gas rendered a tnt's central office uninhabitable ND our team members suited up and performed repairs and maintenance of the equipment the team members can also use devices like these to measure atmospheric contamination from everything from common gases to radioactive elements and act accordingly we've only scratched the surface of the nd our team's capabilities considering its long history and the over 600 million dollars invested in it maybe that's unsurprising the sense that I got from talking to everyone involved is that AT&T takes disaster recovery very seriously the people working on and with the nd our team are committed to getting customers reconnected as quickly as possible after a major event using the many means at their disposal remember they're all volunteers as this video hits the feeds three members of the team that we're training in Hartford are now in Oklahoma working to restore network connectivity so victims of the tornado strike can stay in touch and so emergency responders can better communicate sometimes all the comfort in the world can come in the form of a simple phone call or text message an AT&T seems to understand that very well for more from PocketNow follow us on our social feeds and subscribe thanks for watching we'll see you next time you