@jbtaylor on tech

Due to Hurricane Earl, the National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch and tropical storm watch for portions of my home state -- North Carolina.

From Surf City, N.C. north to Cape Fear, there's a Tropical Storm Watch, meaning tropical storm conditions are expected.

From Cape Fear north to Duck, N.C., including the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, there is a Hurricane Watch in place, meaning hurricane conditions are expected.

Our network team in Eastern North Carolina is taking the steps our team in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands took just days earlier because of Earl. They are fueling up our permanent generators at our cell sites and network switches and pre-staging additional portable generators elsewhere across the region.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, our team is standing by as the forecasters make their determination for the rest of the Atlantic Coast. The National Hurricane Center's current guidance is that people, "from Virginia Northward to New England should monitor the progress of Earl."

That's sound advice.

I've lived through several serious storms which have hit the state over the years -- Hugo and Fran were the worst in my parts of the state -- but relatives were impacted by Floyd. In all these cases, flooding was the main culprit and our family lived several hundred miles from the beach.

Sprint also offers the following hurricane preparation tips:

• Keep your wireless phone and backup batteries charged, but be aware that an interruption of wireline and commercial power could affect wireless calls. 
• If possible, get extra batteries and charge them. 
• In times of commercial power outages, a car adapter for your wireless phone should enable you to recharge the battery. 
• Keep phones and necessary accessories in a sealed plastic bag to avoid water damage. 
• Load family and emergency numbers into your wireless phone. 
• Use your Sprint camera phone to take digital pictures or video of your property and valuables before the storm hits. Upload the images to your personal pictures inbox on www.sprint.com so you have "before" pictures in the event of any storm damage. 
• Wireless networks sometimes experience heavy traffic during emergency events, so remember to use Nextel Direct Connect(R) or send a text message. 

For more information about Sprint hurricane preparation efforts, or to learn what you can do to prepare in an emergency situation, visit: www.sprint.com/hurricaneinformation.

Today at Sprint, we launch the Samsung Epic 4G. The Epic joins the HTC EVO 4G as our second 4G phone.

(The phones are the only 4G phones in America -- Sprint is the first and only national wireless carrier to offer 4G.)

I like several things about both phones -- both have 2 cameras, both offer a Sprint Mobile Hotspot, both have super fast processors.

But for me, I have to go with the Epic because of the Super AMOLED screen and the slide out QWERTY keyboard.

If you get the chance, stop by a Sprint store to check out the Epic. It's my favorite phone in our current device line up.

Earlier this afternoon, the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a Hurricane Watch for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands because of the arrival of Hurricane Earl. (This means hurricane conditions are possible. There is already a Tropical Storm warning in effect for both areas – this means tropical storm conditions are expected.)

Earl is currently a Category 1 storm, but conditions are expected to worsen tomorrow morning. Storm surges are forecasted to be between 1 and 3 feet, with 4 to 6 inches of rain expected in Puerto Rico. There could be up to 12 inches of rain in isolated areas of PR. Forecasters are warning of life threatening flash floods and mudslides on the island.

Sprint has taken a number of precautions to protect our network serving the region.

Earlier Friday, Saturday and today, our network engineers tested and fueled the back up generators which serve our cell sites and network switches in the region in the event of a disruption of commercial power.

Network engineers have also pre-staged diesel fuel and additional portable generators as an extra precaution.

Our network facilities are not located in areas where flooding is expected, but should the forecast worsen this evening, our network technicians are standing by with sandbags.

We urge our customers in the Caribbean who live in the areas most likely to be impacted by Hurricane Earl to take appropriate precautions. As with any storm, conditions can change rapidly, so customers are advised to monitor weather forecasts.

Sprint also offers the following hurricane preparation tips:

• Keep your wireless phone and backup batteries charged, but be aware that an interruption of wireline and commercial power could affect wireless calls. 
• If possible, get extra batteries and charge them. 
• In times of commercial power outages, a car adapter for your wireless phone should enable you to recharge the battery. 
• Keep phones and necessary accessories in a sealed plastic bag to avoid water damage. 
• Load family and emergency numbers into your wireless phone. 
• Use your Sprint camera phone to take digital pictures or video of your property and valuables before the storm hits. Upload the images to your personal pictures inbox on www.sprint.com so you have "before" pictures in the event of any storm damage. 
• Wireless networks sometimes experience heavy traffic during emergency events, so remember to use Nextel Direct Connect(R) or send a text message. 

Our brand police has lone since removed this video from Sprint's You Tube channel, but I found it on someone else's You Tube site. (It's no longer "brand compliant", but it still tells a great story.)

Of all the work I've done at Sprint, this is what I'm most proud of.

The Gulf Coast is still recovering, and in some ways, it will never be the same, but as long as there are hurricanes, Sprint and the rest of the country's telecommunications carriers will do everything we can to prepare for and recover from hurricanes like this one.

Our customers deserve nothing more.

The folks at The Hill newspaper's Hillicon Alley technology blog picked up on remarks yesterday from the chief counsel to the FCC Chairman, Rick Kaplan.

In offering his reaction to the GAO report on wireless competition, Kaplan said:

"Wireless connectivity is a key economic driver that creates enormous opportunities for consumers, innovators, and businesses. We agree with GAO that data-driven analysis of the wireless marketplace is essential for pro-innovation, pro-competition policies. The FCC has taken proactive steps to improve our data and analysis, including collecting new and better data for this year’s Mobile Wireless Competition Report. We’re pleased that GAO has recognized the need for the FCC to collect more comprehensive data on special access and will soon be taking steps to address many of the issues raised in the report.”

Now in Washington, "soon" can mean something different than what it means elsewhere in the country, but I'm taking this as a sign that the FCC is getting ready to act to fix this broken market.

I sure hope I'm right.