AKRON, Ohio — With less than two weeks until the total eclipse of the sun, some in Northeast Ohio are wondering if they will have total use of their cell phones on April 8.
No one is worried that a few minutes of darkness in the middle of the day will impact cell phones, but some residents are worried that the potential crush of people coming into the area for the memorable day could overwhelm cell towers and cause phones to lose service.
When asked about the chatter over this possibility, Verizon Spokesperson Jeff Kew said, "There's a lot of chatter. There's a lot of worry."
However, Kew doesn't think people should be concerned. He said Verizon engineers feel very good about the network holding up on eclipse day.
"Our engineers are on it. They've been on it for months as far as preparing for that day and making sure that the network is going to hold up fine," Kew said.
Kew said that 20 new cell sites in Northeast Ohio's path of totality have been added since last year.
He pointed out that cell phone service is already frequently put to the test for large events such as Guardians and Cavaliers games in Downtown Cleveland.
"It holds up really, really well," Kew said.
Still Akron Police Captain David Laughlin, who oversees the Akron Safety Forces Communication Center, said APD has to prepare for the possibility of cell phone outages. He has advice for people if they need to call 911 but can't use their phones.
"Obviously, get themselves to safety, get themselves out of that situation, make sure they're protected, try to get to an area where it's densely populated, so there can be support in that way. Somebody else might able to connect," Laughlin said.
Laughlin isn't worried about the 911 system crashing on April 8, but he said callers might have to be patient.
On a typical day, Akron receives about 1,000 calls to the 911 center. That number is expected to grow with more people in town for the eclipse.
"Use 911 appropriately. Don't call if it's not an emergency. If it's something that can wait until later in the day or the next day, wait," Laughlin said.
While Kew is confident phones will work normally, he said people can switch to Wi-Fi if they have issues.
"If there is an outage at any point, you can go to a public Wi-Fi spot, switch your phone to Wi-Fi, and you can text and call based on that too," he said.
Laughlin said the department has conducted assessments on their communications systems and believe those are good to go. APD is also restricting time off so they will be fully staffed during the eclipse to handle any calls that come their way.
He understands people are connected to their phones but hopes people take time to enjoy the moment rather than focus on cell service.
"We're here to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime event," Laughlin said. "Celebrate with each other."
