Virginia Tech's Football Legacy Made Response to Shootings Easier

Unexpected tragedies like the one that Virginia Tech experienced Monday pose problems for cellphone companies, which suddenly have to cope with exponentially higher demand as phone calls flood into and out of the system. Companies build enough technical capacity into their systems, technicians say, for only a 2 percent increase over normal levels before calls start getting dropped.

But it might have been worse yesterday but for the lucky fact that Virginia Tech is a perennial football powerhouse. Lane Stadium, where the Hokies play their home games, has a capacity of over 65,000, meaning that at least one major celluar service provider, Nextel, was already used to dealing with the occasional burst in demand when students and other loyal fans all crowd into Lane. (A spokesman for another provider, Cingular, was unwilling to offer similar statistics about how well the company was able to respond to yesterday's demand.)

"We had excess equipment on some of the sites as a result of Virginia Tech football," said Joe Grlicka, Nextel's radio frequency manager for Virginia. "In a few hours, we got all our ducks in a row and switched them on. That just made a quick dent in the blocking."

After that was activated, the company also started rolling in portable "base radios" to further boost capacity. A Nextel spokesman confirmed for News Desk today that the company got 24 extra radios on the scene yesterday and dispatched another 24 today on a "Cellular on Wheels," or COW.

--Chris Wilson