Sprint expanded its wireless coverage and capacity footprint...

Sprint expanded its wireless coverage and capacity footprint to enhance the availability of communications during emergency weather events. The better wireless coverage footprint and overlap will compensate if a cell site is affected by a natural disaster, Sprint said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1nYeUD2). It also plans to provide enhanced wireless data and voice capacity “due to modernized network hardware and software,” and a “reduction of blocked voice calls during mass calling events,” it said. If a hurricane or tropical storm threatens the operation of Sprint’s network, the company’s network disaster recovery unit and emergency response team will implement a standard emergency response about 24-72 hours before the storm’s predicted to make landfall, it said. Sprint said it has thousands of permanent generators installed at all of its wireless and wireline switches, about 250 additional cell sites and cell sites that serve Atlantic coastal communities and the Gulf Coast states. C Spire, meanwhile, said it’s waiving its activation fee and up to $4.50 in monthly service fees for Wireless Priority Service (WPS) use on its network for qualifying emergency response agencies. WPS provides emergency response agencies with a higher priority connection during a crisis or natural disaster. Agencies use WPS authorized cellphones by dialing *272 before the destination phone number, C Spire said. WPS charges typically include a $10-per-line activation fee, which will be waived for approved emergency responders, along with up to $4.50 in service fees. All users will still be charged $0.75 per minute for all WPS calls, C Spire said (http://bit.ly/1pMPMP8). C Spire noted the waiver as part of its preparations for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began Sunday. C Spire also said its category-5 hurricane-ready “super switches” in Mobile, Alabama, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, will continue to provide additional protection to its network along the Gulf Coast (http://bit.ly/1rDO1sl).