It is never too early to prepare for an emergency. Frontier Communications encourages customers to take readiness steps in advance of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 30. National Weather Service forecasts are predicting an above-average season likely to produce 13 to 19 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes.
Hurricanes are challenging and dangerous phenomena and the COVID pandemic could create additional obstacles to preparation, so taking simple steps now can make a difference. Gulf States residents can begin establishing stores of water, nonperishable food, and household necessities now. Even now, buying quantities of essential goods can be difficult and waiting until a storm hits could make getting supplies even more difficult, if not impossible.
“Our South States, particularly those along the Gulf coast, are known for beautiful weather, but residents know that hurricanes represent a serious threat and pose unique challenges for which we must be ready. Preparing in a calm and organized way can make a vital difference in getting through severe storms safely and Frontier’s readiness teams are already at work to safeguard the reliability of our network and ready to respond to keep our customers connected,” said Melanie Williams, Senior Vice President for Frontier Communications South Region.
For personal readiness, Frontier recommends that customers assemble a communications kit that includes portable chargers for mobile devices and a laminated physical list of important places and phone numbers. We rely on our devices and phones for contact information, so we don’t always memorize even close family’s numbers. If your phone dies, a physical list lets you easily reach family, insurance agents, hospitals, and other important contacts. Laminating the list can keep it dry and durable for future use.
Frontier encourages everyone to prepare a Frontier Storm Ready Card, which can be easily printed from this link, to store in a pocket or wallet for quick access to important information.
Once a storm has passed, clearing damage, and restoring power is the priority and commercial power companies have a hierarchy of customers —such as hospitals, police and emergency responders— which get priority power restoration. So broadband service, which depends on local electric power, may be affected. While traditional copper network telephones can work without external power, telecommunication network systems require electricity to function.
Buried data cables are less susceptible to winds, flooding rains, and falling branches. In our South states, the Tampa Bay area has the highest availability of fiber network services. Frontier’s fiber-optic network is 100 percent below ground in the Tampa region, making the chance of storm-related damage to fiber less likely and enabling Internet access even during a storm if power is available.
Here are some more storm preparedness tips:
- Take photos of important documents like insurance policies, passports, social security cards, deeds and birth certificates, and store originals in a watertight container.
- Use a cloud service like Frontier Secure to save important data remotely in case your mobile device is lost or damaged.
- If you have a landline, forward your home calls to your wireless number in case of emergency and/or evacuation.
- Customers with cordless phones should consider getting a corded phone that can be plugged directly into a phone jack. If commercial power is unavailable, phone lines generally have enough battery power to allow a corded phone on the copper network to operate; cordless phones do not.
Frontier Communications is here to help. Contact 888-FRONTIER (888-376-6843) to learn more about product and service options, or visit Frontier’s hurricane preparation page for more on how to stormproof your communications.
About Frontier Communications
Frontier Communications Corporation (OTC:FTRCQ) offers a variety of services to residential and business customers over its fiber-optic and copper networks in 25 states, including video, high-speed internet, advanced voice, and Frontier Secure® digital protection solutions. Frontier Business™ offers communications solutions to small, medium, and enterprise businesses. More information about Frontier is available at www.frontier.com.
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