Verizon using drones and other technology to restore cell signal after disasters
AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) – Verizon is peeling back the curtain on the technology it uses to keep cell service up and running during emergencies.
The communication company’s building in Aurora houses all of the technology necessary to keep the network up and running. There is an operations room where the network and building systems are monitored around the clock, network rooms that act like a digital switchboard, coolers to keep the equipment from overheating, a battery facility that can keep everything running for a few hours during a power outage and multiple generators — each the size of a freight engine — to keep the equipment powered up at all times.
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“When you can’t communicate with loved ones, friends, family it can start to make people do things that maybe they wouldn’t do in a situation,” said Jared Hilzendeger, senior crisis response manager for Verizon’s Frontline team.
The frontline team is responsible for restoring or providing cell signals after a disaster. Their equipment ranges from small routers the size of a briefcase to mobile units that run on generators.
“We also have tethered drones within our arsenal that can essentially stay online permanently because they have a tether that goes up them that provides power and network connectivity and then from there it broadcasts out that LTE signal,” Hilzendeger said.
The drones were used most recently to provide cell signals after the wildfires on Maui.
“It’s typically a good thing when we don’t have to deploy those,” said Blair Miller, Verizon’s senior director of mountain plains network assurance.
Colorado is no stranger to disasters, and not just natural ones
“Especially here in Colorado, a lot of wildfires. Wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes. We’ve supported a lot of cyber-attacks,” Hilzendeger said.
In 2021, his team deployed equipment to Glenwood Canyon after a mudslide destroyed part of Interstate 70. According to Hilzendeger, that part of the highway was not part of Verizon’s coverage area. Without a signal, he said ground crews and first responders needed to drive several miles out of the canyon to make a call or send a text.
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“A lot of us are former first responders so we come from a background of where we care and I think that’s the most important thing: when we have an issue we are not sitting around waiting. We are actively getting out to the field trying to restore connectivity and provide first responders with what they need as soon as we can,” he said.
Later that same year, Verizon needed to deploy a piece of equipment called a COLT (cell on light truck) after the Marshall Fire destroyed one of its towers.
“That COLT was actually used after the Marshall Fire where our cell site burnt down. We were able to bring that up temporarily on satellite. We were able to reestablish fiber and we actually had a cell site that sat there for two years using that truck while the other one was being built,” Miller said.
Their mobile resources can be deployed anywhere in Colorado within about an hour. Once on-site, it takes as little as 30 minutes to establish cell service.
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While much of their focus is on responding to disaster, another part is preparing for it.
“We also use these for special events where our existing coverage map isn’t there. Think about the Nuggets parade, the Avalanche parade… Different events where our existing network isn’t built for that influx of people,” Miller said.
He says the work they do is not to provide a luxury, it is to give people a critical resource during an emergency.
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“You’re not streaming Netflix movies. You’re not streaming Disney Plus. But you can communicate and really get that essential communication,” Miller said.
“You have people after two, three days with no heat, no electricity to where they just, they’re looking for a little bit of normalness so as we go in and restore that network you start to see expressions change on people’s faces. You start to see people’s lives going back to normal,” Hilzendeger said.
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