Cell Service affected by storm

Tuesday’s snowstorm not only caused gridlock on area roads, but also snarled wireless communications for many residents.  A Verizon Wireless representative says cell phone problems experienced by customers Tuesday were due to heavy call volume related to the winter weather, related traffic issues and early school and business closures. Spokesman Michael Swearingen said that during the time the outage was happening, Verizon typically sees about 700,000 calls. But on Tuesday, that number approached 2 million.  The spike in calls resulted in Verizon customers in central Alabama experiencing delayed connection times or incomplete voice connections. Text services were not affected and customers were encouraged to text first during emergencies to leave voice lines open for first responders.