Jamie Barnett was quoted by CNET on September 3, 2017, in an article discussing how wireless networks held up against Hurricane Harvey. Compared to past storms, cellular service fared well during Harvey. According to the FCC, outages occurred in 4 percent of 7,804 cell sites in the hurricane's path.
"For a disaster of this scope, to only have 4 percent of cell sites go down is really amazing in some ways," said Barnett. Several network providers prepared for the storm early by arranging backup generators and portable cell towers; methods to assess damages; and sharing infrastructure. "All of this seems to be helping," Barnett said.