Your Cell Provider: Put Down That Phone Today

As the nation prepares for one of the biggest moments in its history, cell phone providers brace for a total network meltdown.

Cell phone companies are usually pretty pleased to see you texting like a bored California teenager (yeah, we're looking at you, Reina) - more money for them, thankyouverymuch! But now they're worried that the nationwide frenzy of Inauguration Day could see so much mobile device activity, it might cause a nationwide network meltdown. Sprint Nextel is anticipating a 10 to 15-fold increase in usage on its network alone, and this figure could increase in particular due to the calls global news outlets have been issuing in recent days, asking to citizens to share their Inauguration Day experiences.

That's why the big providers - who have apparently spent "millions of dollars to temporarily and substantially upgrade their networks in Washington," according to the International Herald Tribune - are still begging users to limit their phone calls and texts and to delay sending photos. They just don't have to bandwidth to deal with it. "We can only bend the laws of physics so much," a spokesperson for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association told the Trib, referring to the physical impossibility of accommodating the sheer volume of citizen communication as Barack Obama makes history.

So as you watch the world change, pls dnt txt 2 much, k? Tx!

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