It seemed darkly fitting that my area of the Pacific Northwest would see heavy rainfall and record-breaking floods as I was finishing work on my article about T-Mobile's disaster response programs. I was reminded, looking at the gray skies outside my window, that natural disasters come in all sizes and intensities, and often without much advance warning.
During my visit to T-Mobile's headquarters in November, where I got an in-depth tour of how the company's emergency management teams restore network functionality during natural disasters, I asked everyone: "What keeps you up at night?"
"How many hours do you have?" said John Saw, T-Mobile president of technology and chief technical officer.
Network resiliency is what keeps him awake.
When a disaster strikes, T-Mobile's emergency response teams mobilize from staging areas all over the US to restore the company's cellular network. That can involve rolling out SatCOLTs (satellite cell on light trucks) or drones that create temporary 5G network coverage when cell towers are damaged, as well as providing generators where the power is out. They also help communities, in coordination with local and federal first responders, by handing out emergency supplies and portable chargers to people in need.
"Let's make sure that our network never goes down, because we will be letting someone down if we do that," Saw said. When it comes to disaster response, Saw said the team puts boots on the ground to make sure affected communities have access to the best technology available.
A Wi-Fi and charging truck deployed during the flooding in Kerrville, Texas in 2025. T-Mobile
What do other recovery professionals worry about? For several, it's how climate change is fueling the recurrence and magnitude of major weather events.
"The way that the climate is changing has increased the different types of disasters and spread them to new locations," said Stacy Tindell, senior director of T-Mobile's network engineering and operations. "We have wildfires where we haven't seen them before. We have hurricanes later into the season."
Not only does this require more resources, but it also places greater demands on the professionals tasked with reconnecting neighborhoods and communities.
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