In addition to taking New York City data centers offline, Hurricane Sandy has disrupted cellular service and wired Internet, TV, and phone services from major providers.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint have all acknowledged cellular outages. Wireline services are also being disrupted. Verizon (the non-wireless part of the company) has acknowledged loss in service for FiOS voice, Internet, and video, as well as non-FiOS Internet and phone services.

AT&T said in a statement sent to Ars: “As we continue to closely monitor our wireline and wireless networks for service disruptions, we are experiencing some issues in areas heavily impacted by the storm. We are in the initial stages of performing an on-the-ground assessment of our network for damage, and crews will be working around the clock to restore service. We are deploying personnel and equipment as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Sprint Nextel reported power outages disrupted cellular service in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Maryland, North Virginia, and New England according to Reuters. T-Mobile said its “customers may be experiencing service disruptions or an inability to access service in some areas, especially those that were hardest hit by the storm.” Cablevision acknowledged widespread service disruptions due to power loss, while some Comcast and Time Warner also confirmed service problems.

According to Reuters, Verizon Wireless "said on Tuesday afternoon that customers may be experiencing service issues and that about 94 percent of its cell sites were up and running." Ars has contacted Verizon Wireless and is waiting to hear back.

Verizon’s wireline problems in New York sound like they may be more severe than its wireless ones, as detailed in a note to customers describing disruptions to Internet, phone, and TV services.

“The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy has resulted in flooding at several Verizon Central Offices in Lower Manhattan, Queens, and Long Island causing power failures and rendering back-up power systems at these sites inoperable,” Verizon said. “While these sites are currently on battery power, the inevitable loss of power requires that all equipment at these sites be powered down to prevent damage. Customers that are served by these central offices will experience a loss of all services including FiOS (voice, Internet, video), high speed Internet, and telephone services. Some customers may experience intermittent busy signals while attempting to dial 311 service for non-emergency calls.”

Additionally, call volume has increased because of the storm, overloading the network. Thus, some Verizon customers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast may be told “All circuits are busy" or "Your call cannot be completed at this time" when trying to make phone calls.

When trying to communicate during an emergency, the Federal Communications Commission advises trying a variety of communication methods in case one is unavailable. For instance, try text messaging instead of calling, as texts will often go through even when cellular calls will not.