Free voice mail during disasters needed, FCC told

FREE VOICE MAIL DURING DISASTERS NEEDED, FCC TOLD
[SOURCE: New Orleans Times-Picayune, AUTHOR: Bruce Alpert]
A former AT&T executive is asking the Federal Communications Commission to require phone companies to provide free voice mail service at times of major disasters like Katrina. After Katrina, tens of thousands of people endured the emotional trauma of not knowing where loved ones were, or even if they were alive, Tom Evslin, the former phone company executive, said in his petition to the FCC. First responders, he said, spent significant time searching for people who had already made it safely out of their homes -- time that could have been better used rescuing those stranded on rooftops in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities. According to Evslin, those problems could have been averted had people been given access to voice mail. Even if their phone service was disrupted, as occurred across the New Orleans area after Katrina struck, callers could still access their voice mail, Evslin said. That would enable people who left their homes to call a toll-free number, type in their home phone numbers and passwords and then leave a voice mail greeting that informed callers that they were safe and where they were staying. In turn, they could access messages from friends and family. Many people already pay extra for such voice-mail service, or get it as part of a package of services, he said. The systems are usually set up in centralized locations, and ideally should be far away from the location of most of the provider's customers, Evslin said. Many people, particularly those without cell phones, either don't have voice-mail service for their wire-line phone, or rely on separate answering machines or phones with answering machines built in. They are useless when phone service is disrupted.
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