New Orleans Gets Cellular Enhancements From Cingular And SprintNew Orleans Gets Cellular Enhancements From Cingular And Sprint

With some of its citizens still struggling to get adequate telecommunications service, New Orleans residents Thursday were greeted by news from two leading cell phone service providers, Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel, that they had enhanced their networks in the city.

Cingular said customers can use its 3G mobile broadband network to access e-mail and browse the Web. Sprint also said it had made extensive upgrades to both its Sprint and Nextel offerings.

Hurricane Katrina knocked out nearly all of New Orleans' landline and cell phone service in August 2005. In one dramatic moment in the wake of the storm, city officials were able to place a phone call to President Bush using the only connection available to them at the time—a VoIP link using cable broadband.

Since then, the city has deployed a large Wi-Fi hotspot that's used for both city services and businesses.

Cingular's subscribers can watch video clips with the new enhancements, and those with a data plan can use Cingular's data services. Sprint said it has added new wireless cell sites and equipment to its existing infrastructure and plans to continue improving its Louisiana service through year's end.