US Wireless Carriers Deploy Drones, AI and Mobile Towers as They Prepare for 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season

U.S. wireless carriers have begun deploying drones, AI-assisted damage mapping and portable cell units as they prepare for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to November. The National Weather Service said in May it expects below-normal activity in the Atlantic basin for the first time since 2015, though it still assigns a chance for at least one very powerful storm.

Verizon Wireless begins formal hurricane planning about a week before a storm is forecast to reach an area, according to Srini Kalapala, senior vice president of wireless engineering and operations. The company flies drones over coverage zones before landfall and again afterward to compare imagery and locate outages. AI then routes the precise coordinates of damaged equipment to field crews.

Kalapala said the combination of pre- and post-storm drone flights and automated location data has reduced restoration times from days to minutes or hours in many cases. Verizon also maintains a fleet of mobile assets, including units nicknamed COWs for “cell on wheels” and HAWKs, or “high altitude wireless kennewhat,” which are drones that can loft small towers above affected areas.

AT&T follows a similar one-week preparation timeline, according to Shannon Browning, associate director of the company’s Network Disaster Recovery team.

Its disaster-response inventory includes boats, barges and helicopters that can move crews and gear into swamps or mountainous terrain once roads are blocked. The company routinely relocates equipment nationwide throughout the year to cover hurricanes, snowstorms and wildfires, a shift that prompted it to consolidate several previously separate disaster teams into a single group.

T-Mobile begins its planning three to five months in advance, said chief operating officer Jon Freier.

When commercial power fails, the carrier activates free satellite service for customers and uses AI to retune antennas and extend the life of backup batteries. Freier noted that customers often tolerate longer power outages than they do loss of mobile connectivity.

Anthony Leone, who has lived in North Carolina’s Outer Banks for more than 20 years, said he now receives advance text alerts from AT&T and typically regains service within a couple of days after storms.

He has been an AT&T customer for more than a decade. First-responder agencies also coordinate directly with carriers. Amy Weber, chief of emergency medical services for the Galveston County Health District in Texas, said representatives from Verizon and AT&T attend her department’s planning meetings to schedule equipment deployment.

Peter Antevy, medical director for several fire departments in Broward County, Florida, said reliable cell and Wi-Fi service is essential for telemedicine, lab-result transmission and live updates between 911 centers and ambulances. Some residents continue to report coverage gaps on ordinary days.

Jackie Santillan, a doctoral student in the Houston suburbs, said she must walk half a mile toward the highway or rely on Wi-Fi to place calls.

In May she launched a petition asking T-Mobile for a new tower in her neighborhood; it had collected nearly 200 signatures as of Tuesday evening. T-Mobile said areas with limited connectivity remain a priority and that it continues to invest in tower construction, 5G upgrades and resiliency projects in Texas, North Carolina and other states.