WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Wireless Useless in Blackout

Pay phones, flashlights and even a trumpet prove more useful during the East Coast power failure than all the latest technology on God's green earth.
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Pheak Si, left, of Lowell, Mass., talks to a friend at Boston's South Station bus terminal after the bus she planned to take to visit her boyfriend in Connecticut was cancelled due to power failures. Many stranded commuters dialed and redialed without success to reach friends or loved ones on their mobile phones.AP Photo/SEVANS

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Joanne Willmott, regional manager of the New York Power Authority, speaks to a media outlet on her cell-phone explaining that no lightning strikes occurred at the plant in Lewiston, N.Y., on Thursday. Hours after the blackout began cellular calls began connecting more frequently. Sprint PCS said its phone networks were up and running, although many customers said they could not make calls. Other wireless carriers such as Cingular Wireless and Nextel Communications were reporting some problems in the blacked-out areas.

AP Photo/Don Heupel
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Ivy Wayne Lindsay, a Barry White impersonator with his own portable generator, entertains bystanders along 6th Avenue in midtown Manhattan after the power went out.

AP Photo/Joe Kohen
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New Yorkers have a drink outside the Fiddler's Green bar on 48th Street while they wait for a way to get home after Thursday's power black out in New York City. Without power, commuter trains and airports were shut down. Stranded folks fought over pay phones, as overloaded telephone networks rendered some wireless phones temporarily useless.

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer