The day before Katrina made landfall, cell towers went down and with them went the area’s cellular phone service. Landlines went down shortly before Katrina hit. Satellite phones worked until their batteries ran out and could not be recharged. City officials went two days without outside communication until they realized the hotel that was their improvised command center had a functioning Internet connection. They signed up for Vonage service, and soon had eight phone lines running off the one Internet connection. Their first incoming call was from President Bush during his flyover. (from WSJ via this thought-provoking editorial, thanks to Jim for the pointer)
