You probably know how bad the areas of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee that were hit by Hurricane Helene are. These communities are not prepared for this type of disaster like other places are, and the cleanup will be slow and painful. Here at Android Central and all future brands we wish everyone the best and are hopeful that people can return to a normal life sooner rather than later.
If you want to help victims and survivors, you can donate to the red cross or sign up as a volunteer.
Unfortunately, Verizon is having an unplanned outage across much of the United States, including areas affected by Hurricane Helene, making communication difficult or even impossible for many. It doesn’t appear the two are connected, as people across the United States in unaffected areas are also reporting issues with Verizon. However, that is little comfort to people trying to survive another day.
There are two very important things you should know if you are a Verizon customer: satellite messaging and disaster roaming.
If your phone is equipped with emergency satellite services like the recent iPhones and the Pixel 9 series, you can use it to send a help message.
To enable and use satellite messaging on iPhone, go here.
To enable and use satellite messaging on your Pixel 9, head here.
With the iPhone, you can also use satellite services for non-emergencies, so don’t be afraid to text your friends and family. They want to know about you.
I realize this may not help people who can’t get online, but if you can, please visit these links and share them, especially with first responders and volunteers.
Another important thing you should know is that the state of North Carolina has enabled the disaster roaming rule. This means that anyone with any phone can connect to any available cell phone provider, as long as their phone has the right network capabilities (it probably does). This means Verizon customers can connect using AT&T or T-Mobile infrastructure to make calls and send messages.
This is important because not everyone has a new phone that can connect to a satellite, especially in the rural areas most affected by Hurricane Helene. The list of compatible satellites android phones Unfortunately it is thin, but there are a number of companies labor to make this a more ubiquitous feature across devices and carriers (Motorola even released a device that more or less brings satellite connectivity to any phone). Hopefully, disasters like this can help provide a little more urgency for these services to take off. Until then, we have to work with what we have.
To use disaster roaming, you simply need to go into your phone’s network settings and make sure roaming is enabled. Don’t worry: it won’t cost you anything and you may be able to connect in a pinch.
Verizon will fix things in due time, but until then, some people absolutely need to be able to use their phones. Gaming and using social media can be fun, but the main purpose of your smartphone is still to stay in touch with the people you care about and care about.
If you are affected by Hurricane Helene or have friends and family affected, I hope they are safe and healthy. Material things can be replaced and there should be plenty of help in the coming weeks and months.
Satellite SOS when you need it
The Pixel 9 isn’t just a fun AI phone: it also comes with life-saving satellite SOS connectivity that can give you help when you’re in an area without cellular coverage. This is particularly useful when facing major network outages.
