Nonequivalent Quasi-Experimental Study of Wireless Telecommunication Traffic During Severe Winter Storms

As wireless communication has become completely integrated into people's day-to-day lives, so has its reliance on wireless connectivity. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2013 39.4% of the U.S. population did not own a traditional wired telephone. While the convenience of a wireless phone is clear, it has created a situation where it is the only communication device that people have during a natural disaster. Far too often during disasters communications with these devices fail, often occurring in one of two ways. First, natural disasters destroy the network hardware that provides the required network connectivity. Second, as people need these devices for safety and security, the network that these devices utilize becomes overloaded. The research in this paper provides evidence that there is a statistically measurable increase in wireless communication traffic during a severe winter storm. This empirical study explores the increase of voice minutes of use and text messaging during a severe winter storm.