Incommunicado

When Hurricane Floyd hit, it hit big. And it demonstrated to me the state of my communications affairs. First, some background.

When Floyd hit New Jersey, I was in San Francisco, worrying about being stranded. I changed flights to avoid arriving at Newark Airport while Floyd was still visiting. Fortunately, Floyd sped up. I got on an earlier flight than the one I had rebooked. Unfortunately, that's when my state of incommunicado set in. My house lost cable service for only one day, but never lost power, never flooded and, unlike many, never lost dial tone. But I did lose long-distance and cellular service.

Flood damage to AT&T's tandem office in Rochelle Park, N.J., and Bell Atlantic's nearby switching center would not permit me to call home from anywhere, at any time, about my change in flight plans. When I landed, at first I could not call the off-site parking people to tell them to pick me up. I did, however, witness near anarchy as fellow travelers tried to beat into submission the few pay phones that momentarily worked.

I should mention the good news: The airline put my bags and me on the same plane and reunited us unscathed within minutes of landing. I found the one working airport pay phone and arrived home two hours before my family thought I was supposed to land. The bad news was the potential Y2K prelude at home.

Below are things we could not do:

- Receive calls from anyone, anywhere outside the local wire center. To my daughter's chagrin, she could not contact AOL to use Instant Messaging - a fate worse than not being able to call long-distance

- Contact AT&T World-Net, whose POP is outside my local calling area.

- Make AT&T cellular calls to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

- Use an automated teller machine. The local banks lost power. Even when power was restored, the banks continued to have no communications. Small checks only please, and no transfers, after a two - hour wait.

- Use a credit card. Local merchants had no modem access to verify transactions.

That was Friday. Cellular service returned Monday. AT&T long-distance returned Tuesday. Because Monday was Yom Kippur, the inconvenience was minimal.

Personal lesson learned: On Dec. 31, I'm getting a lot of cash.

On Saturday, I learned that the 10-10 dial-around numbers were working. But AT&T was having major problems. On Tuesday, with all systems up and running, I learned a few more lessons.

Did you know you can get a credit for disrupted cellular service, but you have to call and ask? No call, no credit. Did you know you can't get credit for disrupted wireline local or long-distance service unless you are XYZ Mega Corp. with an SLA?

When I asked AT&T why its network announcement did not direct people to 10-10 numbers in light of what the company knew was an extended service outage, AT&T responded, "That is not company policy." When I asked AT&T how Mr. Armstrong was making long-distance calls and why the self-healing network that was supposed to restore service in milliseconds was going to take days to get well, the rep hung up on me.

Enough has been written about the poor network planning of Bell Atlantic and AT&T's inability to quickly restore service. Give Bell Atlantic credit for admitting it made mistakes and for working around the clock to restore lost dial-tone. AT&T, on the other hand, has a lot to atone for. Its network didn't perform to spec, and its public relations operation clearly learned nothing from last month's MCI WorldCom frame relay fiasco.

My life, liberty and pursuit of happiness - not to mention my ability to earn a buck - are all "mission-critical" and, increasingly, communications-centric. This seems to be a fact to everyone but AT&T. Yes, nobody can fully protect against acts of nature. However, common sense - if not good business sense - should dictate how to provide real community service in a crisis. AT&T was aware of how to help, could have easily done so and, as a matter of policy, chose not to provide vital information and assistance.

If AT&T does not atone for its transgressions, "Incommunicado via AT&T" will become a description of the state of the carrier's business.