Cell Phones May Not Work Today In Western New York

Today, you may have trouble texting, calling, or posting a photo on social media, but that shouldn’t cause a panic. After all, it is a big day for Western New York history.

A lot of people in the Western New York area may have already been experiencing some difficulty when it comes to using their cell phone. That's because there are several visitors who have flocked to Buffalo, NY to see the rare total solar eclipse. 

According to the New York Times, there are approximately a million visitors coming in from the event. It makes sense, especially when you consider that Buffalo is one of the only cities to experience the eclipse in totality for 3 minutes and 46 seconds. 

Many of those visitors are flying to Western New York, but there are also a lot of people driving too, which is why you will see signs on the thruway around Western New York warning of serious delays on April 8. 

As you can imagine, most (if not all) of these people will want to capture a memory of this rare eclipse by snapping a picture on their phone to celebrate the moment shared with many people in Western New York. That’s why your cell phones may experience some slowed activity or connectivity issues today. 

The City of Buffalo shared some safety tips on their official website, and one of the key points they mentioned was about the cell phone network. The City of Buffalo warned about a potential outage on Eclipse Day.

According to the official website, “Cell phone networks may experience disruptions due to increased usage. It is recommended that you have a family communication plan and an emergency meeting place in case you get separated.”  

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has been on various news stations across town, and he mentioned that the main slow down will occur as people attempt to upload pictures and share videos of the eclipse on social media. 

Emergencies and calls to 911 are going to be the priority, and you can see more here. 

The more people who are in one place, the more likely that a cellular network will bog down when it comes to calls, texts, streaming, or posting on social media. Think about the cellular data issues you have had at a Bills game or a concert: when you’re all bunched up like that, you may experience frustration during the event, so be aware of these potential disruptions.