A cell-phone tower is being built in a parking lot at Sonoma Valley High School. Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune As Sonoma Valley High students filed back to class after winter break, they were greeted by a new construction project on campus.

Dropped calls and poor cellular phone reception result from increased traffic on the taxed cellular system or when a call is made from an area with poor coverage because of power outages among cellular towers, said Natasha Collins, AT&T company spokeswoman. AT&T had about 100 cell phone towers running on generators Thursday evening through north Arkansas, she said.

AT&T cell phone customers, and some wired-line customers as well, struggled through a third day of this winter emergency with spotty or nonexistent service. The communications company blamed a combination of the widespread power outages as well as a damaged communications cable.

A cell-phone tower is being built in a parking lot at Sonoma Valley High School. Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune As Sonoma Valley High students filed back to class after winter break, they were greeted by a new construction project on campus.

(The Associated Press) Being rescued was a mixed blessing for a man who got lost while hunting in Cheboygan County. Howard Keshick became disoriented in Inverness Township in December and called for help on his cell phone. Police and a Coast Guard helicopter braved high winds and blowing snow to locate him. But the Cheboygan Daily Tribune reported authorities discovered Keshick was a convicted ...

Dropped calls and poor cellular phone reception result from increased traffic on the taxed cellular system or when a call is made from an area with poor coverage because of power outages among cellular towers, said Natasha Collins, AT&T company spokeswoman. AT&T had about 100 cell phone towers running on generators Thursday evening through north Arkansas, she said.

Consumers' love for their cell phones could save some companies during the recession. Plus: Obama lays first piece in energy policy puzzle.

From cell, former CIA official allegedly tried to pull off another daring feat of tradecraft.

GalaticGrub writes "Technology Review has an article about a startup that wants to build a business out of crowd-sourcing the developing world. The company, called txteagle, seems to be interested mainly in using local knowledge to translate information into less common languages. The Finnish cell-phone company Nokia is a partner in the project, and CEO Nathan Eagle says that it provides a good ...

A Forest Hills woman found strangled on her couch had more than a dozen profane text messages from her husband's cell phone accusing her of infidelity, police wrote in a complaint charging him with homicide.