High-tech meltdown in NYC
2003-08-15 20:44
New York - In a city awash cellphones, broadband Internet and 24-hour cable television, the humble pay phone and transistor radio were the toast of New Yorkers in their night of darkness.
When the city lost its power on Thursday afternoon, a world of high-tech communications went with it, cutting millions off from their offices, homes, families and friends.
Stranded businesspeople could not get into their hotel rooms because the electronic key card systems did not work, and so ended up sleeping on the street. Air conditioning halted, bringing paper fans back into fashion.
Computers crashed, televisions screens went dark and phone networks were suddenly rendered mute. New York's super-information highway crawled onto the hard shoulder.
Amid initial fears of a possible terrorist attack, battery-operated radios became the only source of hard news.
Millions poured out of skyscrapers onto New York streets, and crowds quickly gathered around anyone with a transistor, listening for updates on the crisis.
Not generally considered the stars of the media firmament, local radio stations suddenly found themselves running live interviews with top officials like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Ironically, given that virtually nobody was watching, some local television stations stayed on air, shifting their news anchors to smaller studios and switching up to backup transmitters on top of the Empire State Building.
"We may have a shortage of cameras," WNBC anchor Sue Simmons told correspondent Gabe Pressman at one point. "And a shortage of people watching."
As news stuttered through that not just the block, not just the city, not just the state, but an immense swath of the northeast seaboard was affected, the focus of concern switched to contacting relatives and loved ones.
Within less than an hour, the cellphone networks were swamped and rendered all but useless.
Designed for 20% of users to be on at any time, networks reported as many as 80% trying to get through simultaneously.
And so in the land of the silent mobile, the normally despised payphone suddenly became king.
Operating on a separate power grid from city electricity, public phones never lost service and became as sought after as the hottest Broadway ticket.
Huge queues formed behind every open kiosk, with tempers swiftly running short with anyone who thought they might be settling in for a long chat.
Twenty-five-cent coins were like gold dust, and many resorted to collect calls to anywhere from Brooklyn to Barbados.
Cash in general was another victim of the technological meltdown.
At the few shops that remained open selling food and drinks, credit card machines went dead and those without paper money could only stare helplessly at the non-functioning cash dispensers outside banks.
"Well, I guess if there is one lesson to be learned from all this, it is how we take too much for granted," said lawyer Sandra Lau.
"I have always wondered what it was like to live in the 1940s."