staplung
10 hours ago
It's tempting to interpret this as a proxy for over-all damage but it's perhaps a bit unwise to do so. Alternative possibilities are that internet related infra (power lines, cell towers, roof-mounted dishes, etc.) was disproportionally damaged or that cities in the projected path saw a lot of evacuations. Of course all of these things could be true at the same time. It's an interesting way to try to assess damage in any case because it's automagically collected; you don't need to wait for people on the ground to report damage. So here's hoping that a) those affected can get back on their feet quickly and b) there's some follow-up to see how useful this data was as a proxy for assitance needs.
dotancohen
7 hours ago
Many science fiction works begin with the premise "we've lost contact with the colony". It's a clear signal that something is amiss.
LV426
ineedaj0b
9 hours ago
we try not to use our phones - if the power goes out, you can't charge again for how long? You never know.
another problem are power flickers. a short flicker resets modems and routers. so you read a book or talk rather than waste battery
dotancohen
7 hours ago
> so you read a book or talk rather than waste battery
OK, I'm convinced. Next hurricane I'm traveling to Florida with the kids!InvaderFizz
5 hours ago
I spend most of my time in the path of hurricanes, we lose power 5-10x per year for between 1 to 8 hrs on average.
When we lose power the battery backup for the modem takes over(15hrs runtime), and we have other portable batteries to recharge our phones multiple times.
If things get really bad, we can pull out the camping solar panels and keep the phones charged. At that point, I expect the fiber will be down anyways and cell service is probably all that would be available.
Works quite well. I can usually still complete my work day on my laptop without issue.
wonger_
4 hours ago
and many are busy prepping, checking in with loved ones, checking weather updates, and then cleaning up, which means less time doing normal Internet things
Retric
5 hours ago
One of my go to power outage devices is a cheap car jump starter with USB charging. 50$ and you can run a cellphone with wireless hotspot and a tablet for days and it’s far less of a hassle than jumper cables.
Actually having solar or a generator is definitely a good idea for homes, but apartments also lose power.
linotype
5 hours ago
There are pretty much constantly deals for battery backups from companies like Jackery and Bluetti that can run modems and routers for many hours for under $300.
linotype
an hour ago
Ok why is this being downvoted? Isn’t this helpful info?
mlyle
9 hours ago
There's probably better figures. Internet providers themselves probably know what subscribers dropped at what times, so you'd be able to distinguish from evacuations and have a good signal as to whether it happened from power outages or key pieces of their infrastructure failing.
It would be really neat to figure out the cooperation necessary to effectively use it. Rapid damage assessment has a ton of value even if the data is somewhat unreliable.
dotancohen
7 hours ago
Evacuations are, unfortunately, often accompanied by tweets. As early as 2012 or 2014 a team I was on was able to localize the epicenter of an earthquake by examining the Twitter fire hose, half an hour before the earthquake was announced on any of the major news networks.